On May 24, 2014, the National Key Basic Research and Development Program of China (973 Program) "Insights into the pathogenesis and research of new diagnosis and treatment strategies of systemic lupus erythematosus" was officially launched at Hengshan Hotel in Shanghai . This project was led by Professor Shen Nan, Director of Shanghai Research Institute of Rheumatology of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) School of Medicine Affiliated Renji Hospital. Director Fu Guoqing from Basic Research Department of Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality, President Guan Xinping from Technology Development Research Institute of SJTU and President Li Weiping from Renji Hospital attended the meeting and made speeches. President Li firstly expressed heartfelt thanks to all relevant ministries, associate organizations, responsible experts, principal investigators and members for their support, guidance and participation. President Li also promised that as chief undertaking organization, Renji Hospital will fully support and work together with associate organizations to fulfill this project and seek well-being for patients. Professor Wang Xiaoning from Chinese People’s Liberation Army General Hospital and Professor Jin Youxin from Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology attended as responsible experts from Ministry of Science and Technology.

During this kick-off meeting, Professor Shen Nan first introduced background, key scientific issues, topics set, main contents as well as the participating organizations of this project and answered questions from the experts. According to him, autoimmune disease is a neglected common chronic disease that causes death and disability. The prevalence rate of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) as a prototype autoimmune disease is 1 ‰ in China, which is 8-10 times than that in Western Caucasian populations, makes our country a veritable "lupus kingdom". Current clinical problems mainly come from two aspects: First, the lack of effective biomarkers to guide clinical treatment; Second, the lack of specific immune intervention therapy. This 973 program is intended to focus on key points in the pathogenesis of lupus, depth the genetic and epigenetic modification as well as immune and inflammatory regulation mechanisms in the pathogenesis of SLE and clarify their cellular and molecular mechanisms. Especially, this project is expected to establish molecular classification of the disease, specific biomarkers systems correspondent to the degree of disease activity and early warning indicators of disease before it causing irreversible tissue damage. The project also aims to establish specific drug efficacy evaluation system and new effective treatment strategies specific to important organ involvement, clarify molecular mechanisms of important organ involvement in lupus disease, screen new drug targets and lay the foundation for the early diagnosis, immune intervention through specific targets and personalized treatment of SLE. Completion of this project will obtain innovative achievements in pathogenesis, molecular diagnosis and interventions of lupus disease with independent intellectual property rights as well as the international leader level in similar studies. It will improve the level of both basic research and clinical diagnosis of lupus disease in China , and strive to have a place in the international autoimmune disease community.

In the afternoon, Professor Cui Yong from Anhui Medical University, Professor Shen Nan from Renji Hospital, Professor Du Changsheng from Tongji University, Professor Zhang Xiaoming from Institut Pasteur of Shanghai Chinese Academy of Science, Professor Wang Honglin from Institute of Immunology at SJTU School of Medicine and Professor Zuo Jianping from Shanghai Institute of Pharmaceutical Research reported separately as principal investigators of 973 sub-projects. The participating experts gave full questions and discussions on the implementation of this project.

It is reported that this project for five years will receive a total of nearly 28 million funding support from Ministry of Science and Technology. The formidable lineup of its research team is composed of 22 key members from more than 10 organizations in multidisciplinary field containing rheumatology, immunology, genetics, molecular biology and others.

As one of the first established department of Rheumatology and the first agency to study SLE in our country, Department of Rheumatology of Renji Hospital has achieved accomplishments that astonished the world after decades of unremitting efforts, under the leadership of its founder Professor Chen Shunle and current director Professor Bao Chunde. Professor Chen Shunle et al. began to study autoimmunity and autoimmune diseases from 1964, and established Department of Rheumatology of Renji Hospital in 1979, selecting SLE as the main direction. Currently, over 90% of SLE patients could live a normal life by taking a small amount of drugs. As opposed to the ​​high mortality and only 25 % of the 5-year survival rate of SLE upon initial establishment of the department, the current SLE has become a curable and controllable disease. Even if in severe patients with damage to kidneys or other organs like brains, long-term medication together with maintenance therapy could control 70-80% of them and prevent relapse. Results of long-term follow-up study of nearly 20 years of patients in Renji Hospital showed that the 10-year and 18-year survival rate was 84 % and 70% respectively, which has reached the international advanced level. So far, Department of Rheumatology of Renji Hospital already becomes Rheumatism specialist with the largest outpatient amount at an annual increase rate of 10 % -20 % in China .