Lupus Ontario Supports the Development of the McMaster Lupus Clinic Registry and Biobank

Dr. Konstantinos Tselios, Assistant Professor with the Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, is establishing the Lupus Clinic Registry and Biobank at the McMaster University. The project was recently approved by the Hamilton Integrated Research Ethics Board and aims to collect demographic, clinical, laboratory and therapeutic data from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus attending the clinic in a longitudinal basis. The research team consists of distinguished clinician-scientists with expertise in lupus and autoimmunity, including Drs. Judah Denburg, Mark Matsos, Kimberly Legault, Derek Haaland, Karen Beattie and Manali Mukherjee.  

In parallel, biosamples (including serum, plasma, DNA and urine) from the patients will be collected and stored in the “Lupus Ontario Anne Matheson Biobank” to facilitate basic and clinical research in the field.

“Lupus affects approximately one in 1000 Canadians and, although considered rare, it has a disproportionate impact on society since the majority of our patients are young women” says Dr. Tselios. “Despite the therapeutic advancements we witnessed in the last decade, lupus patients still suffer major co-morbidities, such as atherosclerotic cardiovascular events and end-stage kidney disease, at a relatively young age”.

In his recent study on lupus-related mortality in Ontario, Dr. Tselios demonstrated that approximately 20 years of life per patient are lost due to the disease and its complications1 . He believes that “…given the rarity of the disease, only large, well-defined, longitudinal cohorts can provide the answers we are looking to improve the quality of life of our patients and optimize survival”. 

This is the overarching principle of the Lupus Clinic Registry and Biobank, which is generously supported by Lupus Ontario, the largest Canadian provincial organization dedicated to improving the lives of lupus patients and their families through patient support and education, research, advocacy and increasing public awareness of the disease. Their donation of $150,000 guarantees the sustainability of the Clinic and Biobank in the foreseeable future.  “We, at the Department of Medicine of the McMaster University, are grateful to Lupus Ontario for their generosity and trust to conduct this project. We will make every effort to succeed and, ultimately, help lupus patients live a better life” said Dr. Tselios.

Ms. Linda Keill, President, Lupus Ontario
 
Former President of Lupus Ontario, Anne Matheson, spent many years supporting lupus patients and their families in the Hamilton area during her tenure with the Lupus Society of Hamilton and Lupus Ontario. The current President, Ms. Linda Keill, commented “Our organization has a long history of supporting research initiatives such as the Lupus Ontario Anne Matheson Biobank and the Annual Lupus Ontario Geoff Carr Research Fellowship. We believe that the Lupus Ontario Anne Matheson Biobank will provide another source of valuable data to further lupus research and get us closer to our vision of Life Without Lupus.”

For more information on Lupus Ontario projects and services, please visit www.lupusontario.org

1Tselios K, Gladman DD, Sheane BJ, Su J, Urowitz M. All-cause, cause-specific and age-specific standardised mortality ratios of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus in Ontario, Canada over 43 years (1971-2013). Ann Rheum Dis. 2019 Jun;78(6):802-806 DOI: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2018-214802   

About Dr. Konstantinos Tselios
 
Dr. Tselios obtained his MD from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece in 2001 and completed training in Internal Medicine Residency in 2010. Subsequently, he earned his PhD in Rheumatology-Immunology from the same University in 2013. 

In 2014, he moved to Canada as a Clinical Fellow in the Centre for Prognosis Studies in the Rheumatic Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto (UofT). In 2018, he completed his Master Teacher’s Program with the UofT. 

Dr. Tselios was appointed Assistant Professor in the Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine at McMaster, effective January 2021. He is primarily sited at the McMaster Hospital. Recently, he was also appointed Associate Scientist at PHRI. 

Dr. Tselios’ research focus is autoimmunity and systemic lupus erythematosus. He has published more than 70 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and more than 80 abstracts. He is a member of the editorial board of the European Journal of Rheumatology, and a manuscript reviewer for several journals including Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, Lupus, Journal of Rheumatology, Clinical Immunology and PLoS One.

Please see Dr. Tselios’ scholarly work at MAC Experts website.