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

ID PMID Title PublicationDate abstract
841397 Synovectomies in moderately to severely involved rheumatoid knees: an alternative to impla 1977 Feb A retrospective study of 19 synovectomies revealed significant relief of pain for two to ten years in selected patients with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis of the knee diagnosed roentgenographically. The usual indications for this procedure may be extended to include well-motivated patients when synovectomy is combined with good medical and physical therapy. Need for further operation was considered a failure of synovectomy.
7332377 Serum methylprednisolone levels following intra-articular injection of methylprednisolone 1981 Dec Twenty-one patients with rheumatoid arthritis received injections of either 40 mg or 80 mg of methylprednisolone acetate into one or both knee joints. Serum methylprednisolone and cortisol levels were measured at intervals up to 1 week following injection. Peak serum levels of methylprednisolone were reached at between 2 and 12 hours following injection, and increasing the injected dose resulted in correspondingly higher serum levels. Injection of 80 mg of methylprednisolone as 40 mg into each knee produced consistently higher peak serum levels than when given as a single intra-articular injection. Serum cortisol levels were substantially suppressed for up to 1 week, and this effect was seen at all dose levels.
7128192 Night-time indomethacin in rheumatoid arthritis. 1982 Indomethacin is commonly prescribed at night to relieve morning stiffness in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic interactions are frequently described with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and the rationale of using more than one of these agents at the same time is questionable. A randomized crossover trial was carried out in 14 patients to compare the effects of 100 mg indomethacin at night with those of placebo when added to a baseline regimen of stabilized salicylate therapy with a slow-release preparation. Each treatment was given for 2 weeks. The results suggest that the addition of indomethacin produced no significant benefit in terms of reduction in the duration of morning stiffness or on the overall daily pain score.
713957 [Treatment of rheumatoid arthritis with biarison. Results of a double-blind study with pla 1978 Oct 27 The effectiveness of Biarison vs. placebo was compared in an inter-individual double-blind study on 30 hospitalized patients with possible, definitive and classical rheumatoid arthritis. The time of comparison was 3 weeks; the dose used 900 mg (up to maximally 1500 mg)/day. The clinical index and the index of activity according to Lansbury were improved with Biarison and with placebo. The superiority of Biarison could be confirmed statistically (p less than 0,01). The effectiveness of Biarison was shown in reference to parameters of pain (number of painful joints and intensity of joint pain, pain on motion and at rest). Biarison was essentially well tolerated. Side effects were all gastro-intestinal. In 3 patients adverse reactions were slight and subsided spontaneously when treatment was continued. In 2 individuals Biarison had to be withdrawn in the 3rd week of treatment. In the placebo group 3 patients were taken off treatment due to no therapeutic effectiveness.
6939880 Hematologic toxicity from penicillamine in rheumatoid arthritis. 1981 Jan The occurrence of thrombocytopenia and leukopenia in association with penicillamine treatment has been described, as have been isolated cases of polycythemia. Thrombocytopenia, which can occur in 8% of rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with penicillamine, is usually readily reversible on drug withdrawal or after lowering the dosage. Leukopenia and bone marrow aplasia are rare in penicillamine treatment and can occur precipitously. Frequently monitoring of all penicillamine recipients is essential to prevent such potentially fatal side effects.
97351 A simple routine method for detecting hidden rheumatoid factors. 1978 A new and simple routine method is described for detecting hidden rheumatoid factors in human serum. EDTA glycine and NaCl were used to liberate hidden rheumatoid factors and to inactivate complement before rheumatoid-factor activity was determined in a glycine--NaCl solution. Forty-nine out of 97 sera from individuals with seronegative rheumatoid arthritis gave positive reactions by this method. Rheumatoid sera with low titres by standard tests gave higher titres with the new method. The new method detects both IgM and IgG rheumatoid factors and is simple and suitable for use in routine medical laboratories. Used in parallel with the classical tests, it facilitates detection of hidden rheumatoid factors.
6342115 [Serum immune complexes in rheumatoid arthritis (a study of 100 cases). Comparison of the 1983 Jan The detection of serum immune complexes in cases of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was performed using four different detection techniques: cryoglobuline (CG), the polyethylene glycol C1q test (PEGC1q), the 125I labelled C1q test (C1qBA) and the detection of anticomplement power (ACP). CG, PEGC1q, and C1qBA are more often positive in cases of sero-positive RA than in sero-negative RA (p less than 0,001 for each test). There are significant and relatively concordant correlations between the positivity of these three tests and certain clinical and laboratory parameters in particular, the level of rheumatoid factor (p less than 0,001) and the presence of extra-articular manifestations. When ACP is found in cases of RA of recent onset, it is associated, in sero-positive cases of RA, with the presence of immune complexes and a more severe form of the disease.
6092501 Serum esterase activity in reactive systemic amyloidosis and its relation to amyloid A deg 1984 Nov Patients with reactive systemic amyloidosis have a reduced ability to degrade amyloid A protein fibrils in vitro. The amyloid A degrading activity in serum has been attributed to a neutral serine protease or proteases. Our results show that patients with reactive systemic (amyloid A) amyloidosis have low activities of two serum esterases, namely, arylesterase and paraoxonase, whereas the activity of a third esterase, cholinesterase, is normal. The combination of reduced arylesterase (less than 55 kU/L) plus reduced paraoxonase activity (less than 35 U/L) was found in 32% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis complicated by amyloidosis, but in only 5% of a control nonamyloid patient group, including patients with rheumatoid arthritis, liver disease, and hypoalbuminemia (p less than 0.001). A significant correlation between serum arylesterase and amyloid A degrading activity was found (patients with rheumatoid arthritis plus amyloidosis, n = 31, r = 0.51, p less than 0.01; all patients, n = 95, r = 0.34, p less than 0.001). Our results suggest that the amyloid A degrading activity may be closely related to the esterase activity in serum.
6490 Antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity in selected autoimmune diseases. 1976 Jul Antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity mediated by peripheral blood lymphocytes was studied in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, polyarteritis nodosa. Sjogren's syndrome, and rheumatoid arthritis. The target cells were chicken erythrocytes coated with rabbit anti-chicken erythrocyte antibody. Antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxic activity was normal in Sjogren's syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis but significantly decreased (P is less than 0.001) in active systemic lupus erythematosus and in two patients with polyarteritis nodosa. A partial regeneration of antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxic activity was obtained by treatment with pronase and DNase followed by overnight incubation. Sera from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus inhibited antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxic activity of normal lymphocytes. The inhibitory activity was studied by specific immunoadsorption and sucrose density geadient ultracentrifugation. Removal of IgG but not IgM greatly reduced inhibition. Inhibitory factors were present in 7S and heavier fractions containing IgG. Five systemic lupus erythematosus patients were studied serially to determine if improvement in clinical status could be correlated with a decrease in serum inhibitory factors as studied by inhibition of normal antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity. Indeed, a greater serum inhibitory capacity was found in each patient during periods of greater disease activity.
48612 Thymosin-induced reduction of "null cells" in peripheral-blood lymphocytes of patients wit 1975 Feb 22 Although thymosin, a thymic hormone, has been shown to restore cellular immunity in NZB/NZW mice, its effect in human systemic lupus erythematosus (S.L.E.) and other auto-immune disorders has not been tested. The present study shows for the first time that the proportion of "null cells" in peripheral-blood lymphocytes of patients with active S.L.E. is significantly decreased after in-vitro thymosin treatment. Thymosin has no effect on the percentages of T cells, B cells, and "null" cells in peripheral-blood lymphocytes from normal controls and patients with inactive S.L.E. and active rheumatoid arthritis. These findings suggest that thymosin may play an important part in the pathogenesis and treatment of this condition.
7100049 Broncho-pleural fistula complicating rheumatoid lung disease. 1982 Mar A 57-year-old man with severe rheumatoid arthritis complicated by lung disease developed a bronchopleural fistula. Initially he had a symptomless pleural effusion but later a cavitated rheumatoid lung nodule ruptured giving rise to a broncho-pleural fistula which took 19 days to heal.
760437 Arthritis of the temporomandibular joints. 1979 Feb The most common disease of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is osteoarthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis may also involve this joint. Other diseases that may occasionally affect the TMJ include familial Mediterranean fever, systemic lupus erythematosus, gout, Sjögren's syndrome and infectious arthritis. Many cases of TMJ syndrome are labeled as idiopathic facial pain syndrome, a category that probably represents a number of different entities. The role of dental malocclusion has been greatly overemphasized in the past.
3876081 HLA antigens and toxic reactions to sodium aurothiopropanol sulphonate and D-penicillamine 1985 Sep One hundred and forty-one patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with aurothiopropanol sulphonate or D-penicillamine, or both were examined for HLA antigens to investigate the genetic influence on the occurrence of different adverse reactions during therapy. All 13 patients possessing HLA-DR3 had toxic reactions. The relative risk for DR3 positives of developing skin eruptions or proteinuria was calculated to be 10.5 times and seven times respectively that of DR3 negatives. The incidence of DR7 antigen in 94 patients with toxic reactions was significantly decreased (11% compared with 28% in controls) suggesting a protective role for this antigen.
6802864 Pathogenic role of a monoclonal IgA (kappa ) anti-IgG paraprotein associated with hemorrha 1982 Apr Sixteen years earlier a 42-year-old woman with an IgA kappa plasma cell neoplasm presented with bleeding disorder. Her prolonged course was complicated by subsequent development of rheumatoid arthritis, vascular purpura, and an acute membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN). The paraprotein and its (Fab')2 fragment showed affinity for a test myeloma IgG2 (lambda ) paraprotein. The patient's serum and the IgA-IgG complex separated by gel filtration did not exhibit cryoprecipitation. The complex also did not dissociate by ultracentrifugation. Electron microscopic and immunofluorescent studies of a renal biopsy sample taken during the episode of nephritis showed subendothelial deposits and a lacy fluorescent pattern strongly positive for IgA and IgG. The same immunoglobulins were eluted from the kidney at postmortem. A low concentration of monoclonal IgA kappa (antibody) and excess unbound polyclonal IgG (antigen) were demonstrated in the patient's serum at the time of MPGN, apparently analogous to the conditions necessary for the induction of experimental immune complex nephritis.
6726719 Rheumatoid disease and bronchogenic carcinoma--case report and review of the literature. 1984 Apr We describe a patient with a solitary pulmonary nodule that proved to be a rheumatoid nodule and a coexistent carcinoma. Similar cases from the literature are reviewed. Fine needle aspiration cytologies from such lesions are potentially misleading and must be interpreted cautiously. Pulmonary nodules in patients with rheumatoid arthritis clearly should be approached as possible carcinomas.
104379 Trace elements in serum and urine of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. 1978 Patients with rheumatoid arthritis were found to have elevated urinary copper excretion rates. They also had increased serum levels of coeruloplasmin and presumably also of a non-coeruloplasmin copper fraction. The zinc levels in serum and urine did not differ significantly from control values. Serum selenium and serum iron were decreased as compared with those of the healthy controls. It is suggested that an increased copper-to-selenium ratio may be of pathogenetic signficance. Biochemical changes induced by copper may be antagonized (at least partly) by the treatment with gold thiomalate and D-penicillamine. If serum selenium deficiency in RA can be confirmed in larger materials, selenium supplementation as a therapeutic measure should be considered.
6175283 Long-term effects of azathioprine in rheumatoid arthritis. 1982 Efficacy and safety of azathioprine in 'high' and 'low' dose regimens in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), both in short-term studies and in follow-up over 40 months, have previously been shown. In the present report, 36 patients with RA treated with azathioprine (group I) and 49 age-matched patients with RA (group II), were studied to detect potential early markers of malignancy. Chest x-rays were similar to both groups. One patient in group I had a positive PAP smear and was subsequently found to have uterine carcinoma. Alpha-fetoprotein was positive in one patient in group I and none in group II. CEA was negative in all patients in group I, but positive in seven in group II. On chromosomal analysis group I showed a greater frequency of breakage. Group I showed lower serum folates and a highly significant number of megaloblastic features in marrow aspirates. In group I seven tumours, three being malignant, occurred while taking azathioprine, and in group II six tumours, one malignant, were identified (p = 0.17). The apparent increased risk of malignancy previously suggested by others warrants further studies with larger populations and over a continuous longer period.
6644706 Diffuse fasciculations induced by D-penicillamine. 1983 Oct Diffuse fasciculations developed in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis who had received D-penicillamine for 6 months. Fasciculations disappeared after discontinuation of the drug but recurred on rechallenge. This reversible neuromuscular irritability has been reported with gold therapy but not with D-penicillamine.
94219 Dermatomyositis induced by penicillamine. 1979 A case of dermatomyositis is reported in a 50-year-old woman receiving D-Penicillamine therapy for rheumatoid arthritis. There was no evidence of neoplasia on full investigation. Remission of dermatomyositis occurred on withdrawal of D-Penicillamine.
494034 Rheumatoid arthritic syndrome after chikungunya fever. 1979 Jul 28 An outbreak of chikungunya fever which occurred during April 1977 among a group of high-school children from Pretoria after a visit to the northern Transvaal bushveld is reported. Some of the adults who accompanied the pupils also contracted the disease. The adults suffered more severely from the chronic arthritic form of the disease than did the children. In some cases the episodic polyarthritis was still present 18 months after the onset of the disease. Rheumatoid factors in low titre could be demonstrated in the circulation of patients with longstanding symptoms.