Patent 7608395 was granted and assigned to BAYLOR RESEARCH INSTITUTE on October, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The present invention provides compositions and methods for aiding in the diagnosis, monitoring and prognosis of SLE in a subject and for identifying potential therapeutic agents to treat and/or ameliorate the symptoms associated with SLE. Accordingly, embodiments of the invention are directed to methods of identifying the gene expression profile of a suitable sample by screening for the presence of a differentially expressed SLE-associated gene isolated from a sample containing or suspected of containing a cell that can differentially express an SLE-associated gene.