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

ID PMID Title PublicationDate abstract
1137439 Rheumatoid arthritis in an urban South African Negro population. 1975 Apr (1) An epidemiological study of an urban South African Negro community has been carried out in Johannesburg. Altogether 964 respondents were examined and in each case radiographs of the hands and feet were obtained. Rheumatoid factor tests were carried out on 404 serum samples. (2) Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was graded 'definite' or 'probable' on the basis of a modification of the Rome criteria (Kellgren, Jeffrey, and Ball, 1963a). (3) In marked contrast to the findings in rural Africans the prevalence of RA in this community was similar to that in Caucasian populations. Five respondents (all elderly women) had 'definite' RA, giving a prevalence of 1.4% of the females and 0.9% of the total population sample over 15 years old. The prevalence of 'definite' and 'probable' RA combined was 2.6% for males, 3.7% for females, and 3.3% for all individuals over 15 years old. Prevalence increased with age, reaching a maximum in the 65- to 74-year cohort. (4) The form and severity of the clinical and radiological features were unlike the mild manifestations seen in rural African peoples and closely resembled the usual clinical picture of rheumatoid disease. (5) The latex fixation test was positive in 12.1% of the sera tested, which is similar to the high titres found in other African populations. No obvious cause for this phenomenon was found. (6) Several reasons for the marked difference in prevalence of RA between this urban African population and a rural African population are considered. Marked intraracial differences such as this point to the importance of sociological and environmental factors in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis.
6103793 Determination of a urinary epoxide metabolite of alclofenac in man. 1980 Mar An epoxide metabolite has been identified in the urine of normal volunteers and rheumatoid arthritis patients after the oral administration of alclofenac (1.5--4 g daily). The identification was based on a comparison of the mass spectra and gas-liquid chromatographic data for five different derivatives of the synthetic alclofenac epoxide with those obtained from urine extracts. Alclofenac epoxide was found to have a half-life of 35 hr when incubated in urine (pH5) at 37 degrees C. A quantitative analysis, based on multiple-ion monitoring, was developed; the levels of alclofenac epoxide excreted in 24 hr varied between 25 and 316 micrograms. These amounts corresponded to 0.003-0.011% of the total dose of alclofenac per day. No significant differences were observed in the concentrations of alclofenac epoxide in the urine between normal volunteers, patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and patients presenting a drug-associated rash.
6813490 Effects of chrysotherapy on cell mediated immune response. 1982 Jul Auranofin (AF) differs significantly from gold sodium thiomalate (GSTM) in formulation, i.e., aurous gold is stabilized by dual sulfur and phosphorus ligands, hydrophobic rather than hydrophilic characteristics, and lack of ionic charge. These attributes facilitate: oral absorption of AF, plasma membrane penetration, increase in intracellular lymphocyte gold concentration; and perhaps thereby influence lymphocyte function. AF treated subjects recorded prompt and sharp declines in mitogen-induced lymphoproliferative response (LMR) greater than 80%; suppressed response to skin testing with dinitrochlorobenezene (DNCB) in 11 of 14 subjects; and blebbing of lymphocyte membranes by scanning electron microscopy. In contrast, lymphocytes from a matched group of GSTM treated subjects recorded later onset and less suppression of LMR; normal response to DNCB skin testing; and did not manifest membrane blebbing. Accordingly, the therapeutic action of AF on immune response was observed in the 16 subjects receiving 6 mg/d of an average of 45 weeks to effect primarily cell mediated rather than humoral immune response when compared with a matched group of GSTM treated patients.
2861876 Sulphasalazine in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis: relationship of dose and serum le 1985 Aug Previous studies of sulphasalazine in rheumatoid arthritis have chosen an empirical dose based upon its use in ulcerative colitis. In this study we compare the efficacy and toxicity of two doses (1.5 g/day and 3 g/day, 30 patients per group), and attempt to relate efficacy to serum levels of sulphasalazine and its metabolites. After six months 24 of the low-dose group and 20 of the high-dose group remained on treatment. Greater improvement was seen in the high-dose group. When dose was expressed as mg/kg, the dose efficacy ratio became more apparent and a dose of greater than 40 mg/kg/day appears to confer greater benefit. No relationship was demonstrated between serum levels of sulphasalazine or its measured metabolites, and efficacy. We conclude that response to sulphasalazine in rheumatoid arthritis is dose dependent but does not relate to serum levels of sulphasalazine, sulphapyridine, or acetyl sulphapyridine.
300308 Lymphocyte reactivity to mitogens in subjects with systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoi 1977 Jan The mitogenic reactivity of lymphocytes from subjects with systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis and scleroderma was studied. Cultures containing either unseparated or separated lymphocytes were stimulated with phytohaemagglutinin, Con A and pokeweed mitogen after inhibitory serum factors were eluted from the cell surface. Incorporation of [3H]thymidine in patient cultures was compared to that of normal controls. Greatly decreased reactivity was found in SLE to all three mitogens. Significantly decreased values to some mitogens was also observed in rheumatoid arthritis and scleroderma, but the defect was less severe. Cultures of study subjects contained significantly fewer small lymphocytes than normal controls and this finding explained at least in part the decreased mitogenic reactivity.
6453226 The musculoskeletal manifestations of acne fulminans. 1981 Mar We describe a relatively uncommon and poorly understood relationship between a particularly severe form of acne and an associated arthritis. Two young men are described, 1 of whom possesses the HLA-B27 antigen. Their clinical courses are described, responses to therapeutic intervention outlined, and some speculation regarding etiology is made. A review of the literature is included. The prognosis is uncertain, since 1 of the patients has sacroiliitis.
6663605 Isotype-specific measurement of rheumatoid factor with reference to clinical features of r 1983 Nov Serum levels of IgG, IgA and IgM rheumatoid factor (IgG RF, IgA RF and IgM RF) were estimated by means of the diffusion-in-gel enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (DIG-ELISA), in 90 Waaler-Rose positive and Waaler-Rose negative rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients as well as in 60 controls. The presence of IgG and/or IgA RF was shown to be of high predictive value concerning the occurrence of systemic manifestations in RA. All RF isotypes measured were good indicators of the disease activity.
4024977 Incidence of rheumatoid arthritis among patients with schizophrenia, affective psychosis a 1985 Jun The aim of the study was to determine the incidence of hospital care with the diagnosis rheumatoid arthritis (RA) among patients with schizophrenia, affective psychosis and neurosis compared with that among hospitalized patients in general. By means of the in-patient register of Stockholm County, a cohort was formed comprising all patients discharged with the diagnoses schizophrenia, affective psychosis and neurosis in Stockholm County during 1971, and a sample of all patients discharged for any diagnosis during the same year. We followed the groups in the in-patient register through 1981 in order to identify hospital episodes with the diagnosis RA. Observed and expected incidences of RA in hospital care were obtained using all hospitalized patients as a reference group. For schizophrenia and affective psychosis the incidence of RA was around half the expected, whereas for neurosis it was close to the expected incidence. With reservation for small numbers of observed cases, the results support the hypothesis of a reduced incidence of RA among patients with schizophrenia. The finding regarding affective psychosis was based on a smaller number of cases and merits further investigations.
7364471 Subcapital fractures of the femur in rheumatoid arthritis. 1980 Feb A review of 40 subcapital fractures of the femur in 37 patients with rheumatoid arthritis has shown that no displaced fracture treated by reduction and fixation united, even when it had been acceptably reduced and fixed. Primary prosthetic replacement of the femoral head gave significantly better results, at least in the short term. A postoperative deep infection rate for prosthetic replacement of one in five was reduced to zero by prophylactic antibiotics: current treatment with oral corticosteroids did not increase the risk of infection. The possibility of a stress fracture of the femoral neck should be considered if a patient with chronic rheumatoid arthritis presents with increasing hip pain after minimal trauma.
6874718 Why not resurface the patella? 1983 Aug The results of resurfacing or not resurfacing the articular cartilage of the patella were reviewed in 71 knees--47 with rheumatoid arthritis and 24 with osteoarthritis--which had been replaced with the ICLH prosthesis. Two rheumatoid and osteoporotic patellae developed transverse fractures with separation and were excluded from the review. The results showed that resurfacing the patella greatly reduced peripatellar pain with no counter-balancing disadvantage.
1149570 [St. George's model of total elbow-joint prosthesis]. 1975 May The elbow-prosthesis, design St. George, a hinge prosthesis is developed according to the principle of the Low Friction Arthroplasty. Only small resection of the joint is necessary so that in the "second line of defence" a resection-arthroplasty of elbow is possible. The experiences on 44 implanted prosthesis and the results of 37 cases are described. Restriction of motion, pain, instability and ankylosis in case of rheumatiod arthritis and posttraumatic arthrosis were the main indications.
807634 The molecular basis of self-association of IgG-Rheumatoid factors. 1975 Aug The intermediate complexes, sedimenting between 19S and 6.6S components of normal serum on analytical ultracentrifugation, were purified from plasma of three patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Sequential gel filtration and removal of contaminants by agarose-antibody immunoadsorbents were employed for purification of these complexes. The isolated complexes from the three patients consisted of IgG with k and lambda light chains. Sedimentation equilibrium ultracentrifugation experiments showed that the isolated complexes underwent concentration-dependent self-association, whereby the smallest detectable molecular species had a molecular weight of 292,000. These IgG dimers were formed by self-association of IgG-rheumatoid factors, since nearly all F(ab) fragments, prepared from the isolated complexes by pepsin digestion, bound to normal IgG. The association constants for the interaction between normal IgG and one binding site of the F(ab) fragments were about 10-5 liters/mole. Since a cyclic structure with two antigen-antibody bonds was thought to form in the self-association of two IgG-rheumatoid factors, the association constant for dimer formation was calculated to be 10-10 liters/mole. The preferential self-association of IgG-rheumatoid factor was supported by the observation that monomeric normal human IgG did not replace the IgG-rheumatoid factor when the complexes were dissociated and reformed in the presence of excess normal IgG. The self-association of IgG-rheumatoid factors may be a general phenomenon in rheumatoid arthritis, as suggested by the observations of other investigators.
111762 Anti-keratin antibodies in rheumatoid arthritis. 1979 Jul 14 A naturally occurring antibody that reacts with the keratinised tissue of animal oesophagus was found in the serum of 75 out of 129 patients (58%) with classical or definite rheumatoid arthritis (RA) but not in sera from 105 healthy people. Detection of the antibody, which is unrelated to rheumatoid factor, is more specific for RA than the reaction in the sheep-cell agglutination test but less sensitive.
6993073 Hidden anti-nuclear antibodies in rheumatic diseases. 1980 Feb Hidden anti-nuclear antibodies are demonstrated by immunofluorescence using smears of rat nuclei as substrate and rat liver section technique when sera are incubated with penicillamine. The non-detection of hidden anti-nuclear antibodies by tissue sections in the absence of a splitting agent may be due to the formation of high molecular weight complexes between rheumatoid factors and anti-nuclear antibodies. These high molecular weight complexes containing anti-nuclear antibodies do not have access to tissue nuclear antigens, but can react directly with free nuclei. It is postulated that anti-nuclear antibodies may represent the early pathway of both rheumatoid arthritis and connective tissue diseases. The demonstration of hidden anti-nuclear antibodies in seropositive sera indicates that rheumatoid factors may have a protective effect. It may explain dissimilarities observed in the clinico-immunological profile of rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus. The splitting effect of penicillamine observed in vitro may be similar in vivo. It can explain clinical improvement and immunological side effects observed in rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with this drug.
6694933 The acutely swollen joint. First impressions may mislead. 1984 Jan An acutely swollen joint may be indicative of a number of disease entities. A thorough history and physical examination are the cornerstones of evaluation. Laboratory findings can be useful in diagnosis, as can response to therapy (eg, response to penicillin in gonococcal arthritis is often the only criterion for diagnosis, as the organism is difficult to culture). Patients with malignancy (especially leukemia) or who are immunosuppressed or otherwise debilitated are at particular risk for a septic cause of swelling. Infectious arthritis should be the first potential cause looked for in these patients as well as in patients with such preexisting joint diseases as rheumatoid arthritis. The diagnosis of joint sepsis is confirmed by examination of aspirated joint fluid. In no case should a swollen joint be injected with corticosteroids until all possibility of infection has been eliminated.
2416682 Mononuclear phagocytes of normal and rheumatoid synovial membrane identified by monoclonal 1985 Dec The presence of cells bearing epitopes of the mononuclear phagocyte series was studied immunohistochemically in synovium removed from joints involved by trauma (T), osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Mononuclear phagocytes were the most consistent feature of the inflamed rheumatoid synovium. They shared at least five epitopes expressed by mononuclear phagocytes in other tissues. In OA/T samples, cells bearing markers of the less mature monocyte were present at the surface of the synovial membrane, namely the intimal layer, while those bearing macrophage epitopes were apparent throughout the intimal layer and subintimally. This suggested that maturation of the monocyte population takes place after the monocytes have entered the synovial tissues, settled at the surface, then moved downward into the subintimal layer. The synovial monocytes accounted for all the HLA-D region positive cells in the lining layer.
326493 Comparison of sodium meclofenamate and indomethacin in rheumatoid arthritis. 1977 A double-blind crossover study was conducted in 15 patients with classical definite rheumatoid arthritis to compare the effect of sodium meclofenamate (300 mg daily) with placebo and indomethacin (100 mg daily). Each treatment was administered for 1 week to patients assigned at random to treatment sequences. The active drugs were shown to be significantly superior to placebo. Sodium meclofenamate alone reduced the articular index. Patient preference, however, was in favour of indomethacin.
7233001 [Early identification of inflammatory rheumatic bone diseases via mammography technique (a 1981 Apr A decisive improvement of early x-ray diagnosis of inflammatory rheumatic osseous changes becomes possible by means of an appropriate combination of film and foil of the type which has been in use in mammography for a long time.
434949 Glycolytic activity in human synovial lining cells in rheumatoid arthritis. 1979 Feb It was conceivable that the previously reported elevated pentose-shunt activity in human rheumatoid synoviocytes could be at the expense of glycolytic activity. To test this possibility the activities of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate and lactate dehydrogenase, the two dehydrogenase enzymes of the latter pathway, have been investigated in the synovial lining cells in fresh sections of nonrheumatoid and rheumatoid synovial tissue. To measure the activity solely in the lining cells, apart from that in underlying infiltrating cells, quantitative cytochemical reactions have been used; the activities were measured by microdensitometry. The results showed highly and significantly increased activity of both enzymes in the rheumatoid cells. Increased activity was also found in synoviocytes in nonrheumatoid synovial tissue after trauma, so that the increased activity of these enzymes is not characteristic of the rheumatoid condition. However, the results indicate that the increased pentose shunt activity in rheumatoid synovial lining cells is not at the expense of glycolytic activity but may be part of an enhanced potential for utilising glucose 6-phosphate in these cells.
312615 Chronic Lyme arthritis. Clinical and immunogenetic differentiation from rheumatoid arthrit 1979 Jun Ten patients with Lyme arthritis have developed chronic involvement of one or both knees. Lyme arthritis was diagnosed by onset with erythema chronicum migrans (six patients); residence in Lyme, Connecticut (eight); seasonal onset in summer and early fall (nine); early periods of short recurrent attacks (nine); absence of rheumatoid factor (nine); and absence of symmetrical polyarthritis, morning stiffness, subcutaneous nodules, or antinuclear antibodies (in all). Five patients had synovectomies; pannus formation and underlying cartilage erosion were present in all. Seven of the 10 patients had the same B-cell alloantigen, DRw2 (frequency in normal control subjects, 22% [P less than 0.005]), but did not have an increased frequency of the alloantigens associated with rheumatoid arthritis. Chronic Lyme arthritis, the result of an apparent tick-transmitted infection, resembles rheumatoid arthritis pathologically but generally differs from it in both prearticular and immunogenetic characteristics.