Search for: rheumatoid arthritis    methotrexate    autoimmune disease    biomarker    gene expression    GWAS    HLA genes    non-HLA genes   

ID PMID Title PublicationDate abstract
7115451 Controlled multicenter trial of tiopronin and d-penicillamine for rheumatoid arthritis. 1982 Aug Fifty-seven patients took part in a controlled double-blind trial between tiopronin and D-penicillamine as basic treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. Thirty-nine (19 receiving tiopronin, 20 receiving D-penicillamine) completed the trial after 1 year. Both drugs resulted in a decrease of the erythrocyte sedimentation rate, Ritchie index, and Lee index and in a sparing effect on symptomatic antiinflammatory therapy. Improvement in these variables was statistically highly significant at any interval with tiopronin, but was sometimes less or not at all significant with D-penicillamine. Nevertheless, the difference in effects between the 2 drugs never reached statistical significance. Six patients receiving tiopronin and 6 receiving D-penicillamine were taken out of the experiment because of side effects.
6857173 Isometric strength and endurance in patients with severe rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarth 1983 Maximum isometric muscle strength on extension and flexion of the knee joints and endurance on extension has been studied in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthrosis (OA), with such severe degeneration of the knees that arthroplasty was indicated. This material was compared with a group of healthy volunteers. The reduction in muscle strength was most pronounced in the RA group, which had 30-45% of the strength of the healthy volunteers. In the OA group the strength, similarly compared, was 55-70%. The difference is explained by the effect of the rheumatic disease on the muscles. The results indicate that in therapeutic measures due to trauma or in joint surgery, methods that contribute to a further decrease in muscle strength, e.g. immobilization with casts, bandages, or traction treatment, should be avoided.
748550 Inter-relationships of laboratory variables in rheumatoid arthritis. 1978 Fall The inter-relationships of 25 variables in 140 rheumatoid patients were studied. One group, consisting mainly of hematologic variables, was differentiated on the basis of its high correlation with disease activity. The second group consisted of CRP and rheumatoid factor, which had highly significant positive correlations with each other. The third group consisted of serum aspartate aminotransferase, serum creatinine, antistreptolysin titre and blood eosinophils. These relationships are discussed.
6744725 Pressure under the forefoot in rheumatoid arthritis. A comparison of static and dynamic me 1984 Jul The generation and transmission of forces under the foot was investigated in 67 normal subjects and 124 patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The investigations included the measurement of static foot-ground pressure patterns with a Pedobarograph and the assessment of transmission of maximum load during the gait cycle with instrumented force sandals. Information from both sources was compared with the patient's own subjective assessment of pain and walking ability. Static pressures accurately reflect the position of abnormal pressure generation.
139096 [Results and experiences in the immunosuppressive therapy of rheumatoid arthritis]. 1976 An analysis of the results of treatment-in five different hospitals and with such immunosuppressants as cyclophosphamide, azathioprine, and trenimone - of 550 patients with rheumatoid arthritis showed an overall rate of improvement of 36%. Cyclophosphamide, because of the relatively small number of side effects and the excellent therapeutical results obtained, proved to be much better than the other two immunosuppressive agents. Also, because the dosage required is comparatively low, patients over procreative age could be included in the program of treatment with immunosuppressants.
118255 In vivo and in vitro effects of gold salts on lymphocyte transformation responses and anti 1979 Sep In vivo, gold salts have been shown to induce disease remission in rheumatoid arthritis. In some patients, this is associated with a return to normal of suppressed lymphocyte responses to mitogens and antigens. This study demonstrates that gold salts will suppress lymphocyte transformation in vitro but do not affect antibody dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity. This suppression appears to be dose-related. In contrast to previous studies, evidence is provided to suggest that the suppression of lymphocyte responses by gold may at least in part be due to a direct toxic effect of myochrisine on the cultured cells.
1124994 The resultant force on the femoral head in rheumatoid arthritis. 1975 The resultant force on the femoral head was measured by suing a roentgenographic method in 100 rheumatoid patients (152 hips) who had Charnley arthroplasties. Postoperative avulsion of the greater trochanter has been frequently observed in the rheumatoid hip. After operation the resultant force and the abductor pull were increased in 18 of 31 with the detached trochanter, whereas decreased in the non-detached group in 81 of 121. In the hips with acetabular protrusion, preoperative values of the force were less than in that the trochanter united and postoperative increase in the abductor force was noted. This seems to be related to the great tendency for trochanteric avulsion in this group.
1275580 Early abnormalities of pisiform and triquetrum in rheumatoid arthritis. 1976 Feb Erosions on the triquetrum and pisiform are frequent in early rheumatoid arthritis and occur characteristically at 3 sites. (a) A shallow erosion on the proximal medial triquetral "bare" area is related to synovial proliferation at the margin of the radiocarpal cavity, although compressive forces from an adjacent long ulnar styloid may be contributory; (b) an erosive abnormality on the distal medial triquetrum is related to synovial proliferation along the margin of the midcarpal joint; and (c) ring-like erosions on apposing surfaces of the triquetrum and pisiform are produced by pannus within the pisiform-triquetral compartment.
3875323 Cellular immunohistopathology of acute, subacute, and chronic synovitis in rheumatoid arth 1985 Aug Cellular inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) synovial membrane was studied in biopsy specimens taken at different stages of synovitis and disease. Patients were classified into three subgroups: acute RA, subacute RA, and chronic RA. Inflammatory cells were characterised by a histochemical esterase method and immunohistochemical peroxidase-antiperoxidase (PAP) and avidin-biotin-peroxidase (ABC) staining. The amounts and distribution of inflammatory cells were different in various stages of the synovitis. In acute onset RA monocytes and granulocytes predominated, suggesting that the beginning of rheumatoid inflammation is similar to inflammatory reaction in general. The presence of T cells and also of plasma cells in subacute RA suggests underlying subclinical changes also in apparently healthy joints in RA. The most typical feature of prolonged synovitis in chronic RA was its intensity, characterised by the presence of large T cell and plasma cell infiltrates. Our findings suggest that the immunological mechanisms are secondary to the tissue damage caused by the initial inflammatory events of unknown cause. However, the immunological mechanisms may still play a central role in the aetiopathogenesis, because findings in chronic RA suggest a defective down-regulation of the immune response.
231469 Collagenase and prostaglandin in connective tissue destruction: cell-cell and humoral inte 1979 Sep Connective tissue destruction is a major characteristic of chornic rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This process is accompanied by local cellular and humoral inflammatory reactions. Long-term cultures of adherent synovial cells (ASC) from patients with RA produce large amounts of collagenase and prostaglandin (PGE2), two substances that play a role in the degradation of joint structures. Lvels of collagenase and PGE2 can be stimulated (up to several hundred-fold) with a soluble factor (MCF) from cultured peripheral blood mononuclear cells (MW approximately 14,000). The monocyte-macrophages alone produce MCF but can be stimulated directly with Fc fragments of immunoglobulin or concanavalin A to increase MCF production. Addition of T lymphocytes in the presence of lectin or antigen significantly enhances the production of MCF. MCF affects other biological processes in synovial cells such as the rate of collagen synthesis, cell proliferation and sensitivity to PGE2 as well as collagen itself can further modulate collagenase release by the synovial cells and function in an amplificative loop. The understanding of these interactions between cells, mediator-effector substances and connective tissue substrates may provide a basis for devising more rational approaches to therapy of the destructive lesions which characterize RA.
167379 Rubella and rheumatoid arthritis: hyaluronic acid and susceptibility of cultured rheumatoi 1975 Jul Synovial cell lines were established from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and from normal human embryos. High levels of hyaluronic acid (HA) were produced by some RA cell lines, some of which were partially or completely resistant to infection with Newcastle disease virus (NDV), vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), and rubella virus (RV). Normal fetal synovial cells lines were susceptible to NDV, VSV, and RV. Infection with virus became possible after treatment of RA cells with hyaluronidase to depolymerize HA, and HA prevented infection of normal synovial cells with VSV. These results provide evidence that HA and not chronic or latent viral infection is responsible for the lack of susceptibility of RA synovial cells to certain viruses.
6298415 A study of the combined effect of ACTH(gel) and D-penicillamine on the functional disabili 1982 Nov Over a 6-year period, in 48 patients given concomitant D-penicillamine and ACTH(gel), the rapid induction of remission of the rheumatoid disease as judged by return to work in full and gainful employment was achieved in 77% within 1 month, in 71% by the end of 3 years, by which time 89% had achieved either Steinbrocker functional class I or II. Side effects were strikingly low in our patients with this regime, except for nephrotoxicity (10%); skin rash, dysgeusia and thrombocytopenia in 1 patient only and all patients were free of any gastrointestinal upset. Subsequent treatment of the failures with gold produced an overall remission rate of 90% in 3 years.
1007636 [Distribution of HBs-(Australia) antigen in progressive systemic scleroderma and other con 1976 Nov Of 173 patients, mostly suffering from collagen diseases and rheumatoid disease, the HBs antigen (HBsAg) was present in 1.73%. This figure is no higher than that observed among blood donors from the same area (Naples and surroundings). One HBsAg positive patient suffered from chronic active hepatitis and rheumatoid arthritis; another from chronic active hepatitis and a secondary type of reticuloendotheliosis; the third was one of seven patients with psoriatic arthritis. HBsAg was not found in any of 48 patients with other collagen diseases, including 22 patients with Progressive Systemic Sclerosis. These data do not support the hypothesis based on observations of polyarteritis nodosa that HBsAg plays an ethiopathogenetic role in collagen diseases with serious vasculitis.
7436577 Cause of death in patients with rheumatoid arthritis with particular reference to azathiop 1980 Oct Three hundred and eleven patients with classical or definite rheumatoid arthritis were observed over an 11-year period. This group is of particular interest since 214 patients were given cytotoxic therapy, 203 were treated with azathioprine (52 of these also received chlorambucil or cyclophosphamide), and 11 were treated with cyclophosphamide or chlorambucil alone. Forty-six patients died. This is an excess mortality compared with the expected rate for the general population matched with respect to age and sex. The death rate was higher than expected in the age group 45-64 years but lower in those aged 75 years or over. There were more deaths from neoplasia and ischaemic heart disease in the younger age group. One patient died of lymphosarcoma; treatment had been with corticosteroids, gold, and chloroquine. No other tumours of the reticuloendothelial system were recorded, and no patient developed leukaemia.
6893400 Chromosomal abnormalities. Findings in a patient with lymphoma and rheumatoid arthritis tr 1980 Sep Cytogenetic studies from the peripheral blood of a patient with malignant lymphoma and rheumatoid arthritis who was treated with intra-articular gold Au 198 revealed mosaicism with a normal female metaphase and a 43-chromosome metaphase. The abnormal cell line showed six missing normal chromosomes and three morphologically abnormal chromosomes. The trypsin-digested G-banding metaphases showed that the marker chromosomes were an isochromosome of the long arm of chromosome 17, a translocated chromosome that involved the long arm of chromosome 4 and a chromosome 16, and a translocated chromosome that involved the long arm of chromosome 4 and a chromosome 5. It is tempting to conclude that these abnormalities were due to the gold Au 198 treatment, but we cannot exclude other possibilities.
769707 Synthetic D(-)penicillamine in rheumatoid arthritis. Double-blind controlled study of a hi 1975 Oct Doses of 600 mg and 1200 mg of D(-)penicillamine daily were superior to a standard regimen of therapy in rheumatoid arthritis. The higher dose did not produce significantly greater therapeutic benefit in the group of patients so treated, although individual patients sometimes improved more. The frequency of rashes, blood dyscrasias, and withdrawals from the trial increased withe dosage. It is concluded that D(-)penicillamine is a useful treatment that the daily dose should be as low as possible, and that it should be increased at infrequent intervals only, with due regard to the likelihood of further improvement in relation to an increased risk of adverse reactions.
4124157 Comparative study of the in vitro proliferative responses of blood and synovial fluid leuk 1973 Jul Lymphocyte-rich suspensions from blood and synovial fluid (SF) of 20 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and from blood of 12 normal subjects, were cultured with heat-aggregated, aggregate-free, and native human gamma globulin (HGG), with autologous IgG separated from RA-SF by anion-exchange chromatography and with phytohemagglutinin (PHA). No significant differences were noted between the in vitro proliferative responses of blood lymphocytes of RA and normal controls to any of these preparations. Significant differences were noted between blood and SF lymphocytes of RA patients with respect to their responses to the aggregate-free HGG and to PHA. Incubation of RA-SF cells but not RA-blood cells with aggregate-free HGG before their culture with the aggregated HGG markedly suppressed the in vitro proliferative response to the latter. The observed differences between blood and SF lymphocytes and the suppression of blastogenic response of SF cells by exposure to the aggregate-free preparation raise the possibility of modulating the immune and/or the inflammatory responses in RA.
1092732 An open trial of naproxen in rheumatoid arthritis patients with significant esophageal, ga 1975 Apr To confirm the reported lack of major gastrointestinal side effects of naproxen, we gave 58 patients with active rheumatoid arthritis and significant gastrointestinal disease therapeutic doses of naproxen while closely monitoring them for signs and symptoms of gastrointestinal dysfunction. All patients underwent upper gastrointestinal x-ray examinations at the start of the trail, and, when indicated, during the course of the study. Endoscopies were also performed when indicated. Forty patients had hiatus hernia and 35 had peptic ulcer (23 duodenal ulcer and 12 gastric ulcer). Twenty-six patients had a combination of hiatus hernia with either type of peptic ulcer. After 262 patient visits over a period of 52 weeks, 35 patients remained in the study, all having had more than six months of naproxen therapy in dosages ranging from 500 to 750 mg daily. In 33 of the 35, the response to naproxen had generally been good to excellent. Only seven patients dropped out of the trial because of complaints referable to side effects. There were no major related upper gastrointestinal side effects as monitored by continuing clinical evaluation, stool occult blood, comprehensive laboratory examination, and, where indicated, upper gastrointestinal x-ray studies. Approximately 70 per cent of the patients demonstrated efficacy on long-term naproxen therapy by subjective and objective parameters. Naproxen appears to be an efficacious and remarkably safe drug in the long-term therapy of rheumatoid arthritis, even in the presence of significant upper gastrointestinal symptomatology.
546177 The effect of clotrimazole on human lymphocyte responsiveness to plant mitogens. 1979 Dec The effect of clotrimazole, an imidazole derivative with anti-rheumatic properties, on lymphocyte stimulation by phytohaemagglutinin, concanavalin-A and pokeweed mitogen was investigated in an in vitro culture system. Evidence was obtained to show that the drug could either enhance or inhibit lymphocyte stimulation, the response depending on the concentration of the drug in the culture system and the mitogen used, as well as on individual variability. At a concentration of the drug corresponding to therapeutic serum levels, clotrimazole inhibited lymphocyte response to the three mitogens in all the normal volunteers studied. In addition, the effect of clotrimazole on in vitro mitogenic responsiveness of lymphocytes of a group of patients with rheumatoid arthritis taking this drug was compared to that of the proprionic acid derivative, ketoprofen. Patients taking clotrimazole showed a significant reduction in lymphocyte responsiveness, when compared to pre- and post-treatment levels, whereas there was no significant difference in those patients taking ketoprofen. Although cortisol levels tended to be higher in the groups of patients taking clotrimazole there was no correlation between lymphocyte responsiveness and cortisol concentration.
4077677 Corneal ulceration following cataract surgery in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. 1985 Nov A sterile corneal ulcer was observed in four cataract patients (two with intraocular lenses) during the early postoperative period. All patients had a history of rheumatoid arthritis and were on systemic antiinflammatory agents. The two patients treated medically exhibited a short recovery phase with complete healing over several days and no recurrence. Aggressive treatment of the dry eye syndrome with artificial tears, bandage lenses, punctal occlusion, tarsorrhaphy, and antibiotics resulted in immediate improvement. In this report, variabilities in corneal ulceration are stressed while emphasis is given to the role of dry eyes and exposure as the principal common factor. A discussion of risk factors, presentation, treatment, pathogenesis, and prevention is provided.