World leaders in the study of lupus genetics are meeting in Oklahoma City this weekend to discuss the latest research into the autoimmune disease.

Genetic, rheumatology and immunology scientists are participating in the 2008 Lupus Genetics Conference hosted by the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation.

"This has been a tremendously important year for the discovery of new genes in lupus,” said OMRF researcher Dr. Patrick Gaffney. "The only way we’re really going to be able to explain what these genes do fully is to combine forces with all of the people interested in lupus genetics.”

Gaffney said he is excited to work with researchers who have different ethnic populations.

"All the genes we’ve found this year are primarily in European-Americans, but I think we’ll also find them in Asians and African-Americans.”

Gaffney and fellow OMRF scientist Kathy Moser discovered a variation in a particular gene that may lead to many of the immune system problems in people suffering from lupus.

The researchers said the gene encoding for a protein is comparable to the brakes of a car.

In lupus patients, the protein fails to turn off the immune system response, resulting in the immune system speeding along uncontrolled.

The discovery of the gene is a piece of the puzzle that helps researchers better understand the autoimmune disease.

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