Search for: rheumatoid arthritis methotrexate autoimmune disease biomarker gene expression GWAS HLA genes non-HLA genes
| ID | PMID | Title | PublicationDate | abstract |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15168349 | Immune signals in the context of secondary osteoporosis. | 2004 Jul | Bone homeostasis is maintained by a balance between bone resorption by osteoclasts and bone formation by osteoblasts, and alterations in bone metabolism can lead to diseases such as osteoporosis. Inter-cellular and intra-cellular signaling, originating from the immune system, the largest source of cell-derived regulatory signals, are involved in these processes. Immune-competent cells such as macrophages and lymphocytes deliver cell-cell signaling through soluble factors such as cytokines and through direct contact with the cells. Such immunological signals to the bone are transmitted primarily through osteoblasts or direct stimulation of osteoclasts to induce osteoclast maturation or bone resorption, which may in turn lead to the disequilibrium of bone metabolism. Inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis are good examples of such a process, in which immunological signals play a central role in the pathogenesis of the accompanying secondary osteoporosis. We will achieve a better understanding of the pathogenesis of bone metabolism in osteoporosis through immune signaling, and thereby develop improved therapeutic strategies for these conditions. | |
| 15141993 | Surprises and omissions in toxicology. | 2004 Mar | The paper describes expected and unexpected results gained from studies performed decades ago, and so to say - forgotten. 1. Different bacterial toxins can induce considerable changes in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of applied drugs. To admit clinical trials, only results from healthy human volunteers are required, however. 2. Antagonists to the toxicity of bacterial toxins in general have to be administered prior to the toxin. However, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is effective also when applied after toxins. ATP is "in" again in contemporary research. 3. A controlled clinical trial revealed substantial differences between the D- and D,L-form of cycloserin. 4. The antimetabolite 6-azauracil riboside and eventually its triacetate derivative was claimed to possess antitumor properties. However, a controlled clinical trial did not confirm its potency in this aspect. On the other hand, the tolerance was excellent. This finding encouraged clinical trials in psoriasis, a disease of autoimmune etiology. Moreover, beneficial effects and tolerance of the compound was described in herpes zoster and even in smallpox. On the basis of these results a controlled clinical trial in rheumatoid arthritis, also judged to be an autoimmune disease, was started. Because of early high toxicity, the study was discontinued. 5. High doses of the compound induce ocular lesions in animals. The above examples justify the titel of this paper. | |
| 14753798 | Advances in radionuclide therapeutics in orthopaedics. | 2004 Jan | Radiopharmaceuticals not only are used for diagnostic purposes but also increasingly in the treatment of many orthopaedic-related disorders. With the development of specific bone-seeking radiopharmaceuticals, the side effects of treatment are minimized, therapeutic effects are sustained, and concomitant use with other modalities may have synergistic effects. These new radiopharmaceuticals, such as strontium 89 and samarium 153-ethylene diamine tetramethylene phosphate, have been used as palliative treatment for patients with bone pain from osseous metastases. Excellent clinical responses with acceptable hematologic toxicity have been observed, and clinical results rival those of external beam radiation therapy. Radiosynovectomy has become a procedure of choice at many institutions to treat recurrent hemarthrosis and chronic synovitis in patients whose hemophilia is poorly controlled with medical management. Radiosynovectomy also remains a viable option to treat chronic synovitis secondary to inflammatory arthropathies, particularly rheumatoid arthritis. | |
| 14605086 | Refractory sarcoidosis responding to infliximab. | 2003 Nov | Despite aggressive treatment with conventional therapy, sarcoidosis may be progressive and debilitating. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha is critical in the genesis and maintenance of granulomatous inflammation. Agents developed to inhibit TNF-alpha have been approved to treat rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease with unprecedented success. As such, physicians are increasingly using these agents to treat patients with other inflammatory diseases, including sarcoidosis. We report a case of refractory sarcoidosis, involving the lung, eyes, skin, and heart, which flared despite aggressive therapy. Oculocutaneous sarcoid dramatically improved after treatment with the anti-TNF antibody infliximab. | |
| 14528575 | [Up and down--the experience of women with the rheumatic illness fibromyalgia]. | 2003 Aug | Chronic pain, like that inflicted by fibromyalgia, is not much known, unpredictable and can emerge everywhere in the body. Yet 2 to 4% of the population suffer from this disease, of which 73 to 88% are women. In fact fibromyalgia is more wide spread than the more known rheumatoid arthritis. This research work presents the experience of women in their struggle against this incurable disease and the progress made in the fight against it. The Chronic Illness Trajectory by Corbin and Strauss (1992) is used as a theoretical framework. Six women, over fifty years of age and suffering from fibromyalgia for over ten years, were interviewed. The interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim and analysed using the grounded theory methodology. The instability during disease development, referred to in this paper as "up and down", is an important phenomenon. Along with the pain and "defencelessness" goes the feeling of "not being taken seriously". Results have proven that an interdisciplinary approach is the best way to help those that cope with fibromyalgia. | |
| 12889214 | Assessment of skin, joint, tendon and muscle involvement. | 2003 | This report makes recommendations for standardized techniques of data gathering and collection regarding: 1) skin involvement 2) joint and tendon involvement, and 3) involvement of the skeletal muscles. The recommendations in this report derive from a critical review of the available literature and group discussion. Committee recommendations are considered appropriate for descriptive clinical investigation, translational studies and as standards for clinical practice. Skin involvement should be assessed using the modified Rodnan skin score. Joint involvement, when symmetric synovitis is present, could be best assessed by the DAS-28 as is utilized in rheumatoid arthritis. Clinical assessment should include a routinized evaluation for the presence and number of palpable tendon friction rubs. Muscle involvement should be screened for by performance of the serum creatine phosphokinase assay and assessment of proximal weakness. More specific testing including EMG, magnetic resonance imaging and muscle biopsy should be employed in those patients with clinically significant myopathy only. | |
| 12775355 | Anti-inflammatory actions of acupuncture. | 2003 Apr | Acupuncture has a beneficial effect when treating many diseases and painful conditions, and therefore is thought to be useful as a complementary therapy or to replace generally accepted pharmacological intervention. The attributive effect of acupuncture has been investigated in inflammatory diseases, including asthma, rhinitis, inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, epicondylitis, complex regional pain syndrome type 1 and vasculitis. Large randomised trials demonstrating the immediate and sustained effect of acupuncture are missing. Mechanisms underlying the ascribed immunosuppressive actions of acupuncture are reviewed in this communication. The acupuncture-controlled release of neuropeptides from nerve endings and subsequent vasodilative and anti-inflammatory effects through calcitonine gene-related peptide is hypothesised. The complex interactions with substance P, the analgesic contribution of beta-endorphin and the balance between cell-specific pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines tumour necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-10 are discussed. | |
| 12371633 | Synovial histology in three Behçet's disease patients with orthopedic surgery. | 2002 Jul | Specimens of synovial tissues from 5 affected joints of 3 patients with Behçet's disease were available for histopathological examination. All specimens were infiltrated by lymphocytes and neutrophils, and exhibited marked vascularity and infiltration of lymphoid cells among the vessels. Marked plasma cell infiltration and lymphoid follicle formation were found in one synovial tissue sample. There was no evidence of infection or vasculitis. These findings suggest that the histopathological characteristics of synovial tissue in Behçet's disease may have a wide range, some of which may even resemble the synovial tissue of rheumatoid arthritis. | |
| 12063741 | [Leflunomide--a new drug for pharmacological immunomodulation]. | 2002 May | The novel immunomodulatory agent leflunomide exhibits a strong anti-inflammatory action. This isoxazole derivative is chemically unrelated to any hitherto applied immunosuppressants. As a prodrug leflunomide is completely converted to its active metabolite A 77 1726 (M1) which blocks the dihydroorotate dehydrogenase, a key enzyme of the pyrimidine de novo synthesis. Drug-related adverse effects are mild, dose-related and reversible, characterising leflunomide as a safe immunosuppressant. While up to now leflunomide has just been approved for therapy of rheumatoid arthritis, its mechanism of action affects multiple inflammatory pathways, thereby suggesting it to be a potent therapeutic agent in autoimmune diseases, graft rejection, and tumour therapy. First dermatological experience has been gained in psoriasis and bullous pemphigoid. The role of leflunomide in the dermatologist's therapeutic armamentarium will evolve during the next years. | |
| 11960151 | Hypertrophic pachymeningitis: varied manifestations of a single disease entity. | 2002 Mar | Hypertrophic pachymeningitis is a unique clinical entity characterised by fibrosis and thickening of the duramater with resulting neurological dysfunction. Three cases of this entity are described. Presenting features were headaches and cranial neuropathies in two patients and predominantly cerebellar dysfunction in the third. One of the patients also had evidence of spinal involvement. Lower cranial nerves were chiefly involved in two patients whereas optic nerve was the predominantly affected nerve in one. Except for the presence of rheumatoid arthritis in one of the patients, we could not document clinical or biochemical evidence of any predisposing infective, inflammatory or infiltrative condition in the other two. All three patients had characteristic changes on imaging suggestive of thickened and enhancing duramater. Although variable steroid responsiveness was seen in all the three patients, tendency towards steroid dependence was evident. The clinical presentations, causes, radiological features, management options and differential diagnosis of this unique clinical syndrome have been discussed. | |
| 11953852 | Childhood malignancy and maternal diabetes or other auto-immune disease during pregnancy. | 2002 Apr 8 | Among 4380 children born in 1987-1997 of women with a diagnosis of diabetes and alive at the age of one, 10 were registered in the Swedish Cancer Registry before the end of 1998. The odds ratio for having a childhood cancer after maternal diabetes, stratified for year of birth, maternal age, parity, multiple birth, and 500 g birth weight class was 2.25 (95%CI 1.22-4.15). Among 5842 children born during the period 1973-1997 whose mothers had other auto-immune diseases (SLE, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn, ulcerous colitis, multiple sclerosis or thyroiditis), the number of observed childhood cancers (9) was close to that expected (8.5). Maternal diabetes but not other auto-immune diseases may be a risk factor for childhood cancer. | |
| 15300672 | Fracture of the odontoid process complicating tardive dystonia. | 2004 Aug | We report on a 57-year-old woman with frequent and powerful retrocollis. The involuntary movements combined with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis led to a fracture of the axial odontoid process. Neurologists with a focus on movement disorders should screen for diseases putting the patient at risk for spinal lesions and consider early treatment. | |
| 15049789 | Present experience with Campath-1H in organ transplantation and its potential use in pedia | 2004 Apr | Campath-1H is a humanized monoclonal antibody directed at CD52 expressed on lymphocytes and other cells of the immune system. It has been tested extensively in lymphoid malignancies, autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and organ transplantation. Although its use in children has been limited to date, so far it appears to be well tolerated in children. Currently, studies are being implemented to further assess its safety and efficacy in pediatric organ transplantation. Immune cell depletion using Campath-1H appears to be particularly useful in organ transplantation in that lower doses of maintenance immunosuppressive drugs are needed. This feature is particularly attractive in children. | |
| 14646055 | The report of the cartilage regeneration using total joint regeneration system (internal-f | 2003 | A new therapeutic system called the "total joint regeneration system" is proposed as a treatment for osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. We have developed devices which allow the regeneration of damaged cartilage under noninvasive mechanical stimulation. This paper introduces the basic concepts of total joint regeneration and reports the results of the first animal experiment using an internal-fixator device using rabbits and a dog. | |
| 12973003 | Remitting seronegative symmetric synovitis with pitting edema: scintigraphic and magnetic | 2003 Sep | Remitting seronegative symmetric synovitis with pitting edema (RS3PE) was first reported by McCarty et al in 1985 and refers to a rheumatologic set of symptoms with acute onset, with no erosive bone lesions, with seronegative findings, affecting the elderly more frequently, and showing an excellent prognosis with low-dose steroid therapy. Although these characteristics make it possible to differentiate it from rheumatoid arthritis and rheumatic polymyalgia, there have been very few reports on the imaging findings. The authors present scintigraphic and magnetic resonance images in a case of RS3PE. | |
| 12963321 | Current methods for the generation of human antibodies for the treatment of autoimmune dis | 2003 Sep 15 | Autoimmune diseases are a significant area of unmet medical need in the Western World, but human antibodies are an emerging drug class that could address this demand. Some autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, are currently benefiting from antibody treatment and new and existing technologies for antibody generation could facilitate the production of effective human antibodies as future drug candidates for other autoimmune diseases. Several methods of generating human antibodies for use as therapeutics have been established, the most commonly used being phage display and transgenic mouse technologies and more recently, cell-free display technologies have also emerged. In this review, we explain the principles behind the various methods of antibody generation and highlight some potential benefits of certain approaches in the context of treatment of autoimmune disease. | |
| 12820102 | Fluordeoxyglucose positron emission tomography detection of inflammatory reactions due to | 2003 Jun | A patient experienced chronic pain 8 years after total hip arthroplasty. Radiology and bone scanning showed no signs of aseptic loosening, but fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron-emission tomography ((18)F-FDG-PET) showed intensive glucose metabolism in the joint capsule and around the prosthesis neck. The surgical intervention revealed soft tissue reaction in this area. Histologic examination showed a granulomatous foreign body reaction against polyethylene debris particles. Infection and rheumatoid arthritis could be excluded clinically, histologically, microbiologically, and with the bone scan. Therefore, FDG-PET detected inflammatory reaction caused by polyethylene wear in total hip arthroplasty and allowed clinicians to decide on interventions, including removal of granulomatous tissue and the replacement of worn artificial joint components to prevent aseptic loosening. | |
| 12666431 | [Characteristics of patients with osteopenia treated with glucocorticoids at the Osteoporo | 2003 Jan | One-hundred-ninety-seven osteopenic or osteoporotic patients registered at the University hospital osteology outpatient clinic during 1995-1999 and exposed to glucocorticoids were included in the cohort. Prevalence of glucocorticoid treatment (of all patients) was 12.4%. The patients diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis showed the greatest reduction in bone density (average T-score = -2.70), fractures were most frequently recorded in patients suffering from asthma or lupus erythematodes. | |
| 12572300 | [Coxiber and risk of myocardial infarction--the apprehension might have been exaggerated]. | 2002 Dec 12 | Coxibs are a new group of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which inhibit cyclooxygenase-2 selectively. They can be prescribed for treatment of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, primary dysmenorrhea, and acute pain. Their main advantage is a reduction in the frequency of serious gastrointestinal complications compared to NSAIDs, but they have the same tendency to induce oedema and renal side effects. The coxibs do not influence platelet function. Meta-analysis of studies with coxibs suggests that they increase the risk of heart attack, but according to recent information this may have been exaggerated. Coxibs should be used for patients at risk for gastrointestinal complications and bleeding, but perhaps not for patients at risk for arterial thrombotic diseases. | |
| 27476180 | Retrospective analysis of 110 ankle prostheses. | 2002 Dec | This study presents results of 110 third-generation ankle arthroplasties performed at four principle centers with a follow-up of 3 years. Prostheses used were the Star, the LCS, and the Ramses. Indications were represented by arthrosis (72 cases, almost all of which were post-traumatic) and rheumatoid arthritis (27 cases). There were 63 women and 47 men, with an average age of 56 years. Results were generally good, especially in relation to pain, which improved in 70% of cases. Function results were less favorable, particularly in relation to dorsal flexion, which did not improve after operation. Walking perimeter increased in more than 40% of cases. In the "Conclusion," we discuss indications for ankle arthroplasty instead of arthrodesis, as of the latter are not always good, and complications are frequent. |