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ID PMID Title PublicationDate abstract
23253922 Advances in sonographic scoring of rheumatoid arthritis. 2013 Apr Accurate assessment of disease activity and joint damage in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is important for monitoring treatment efficiency and for prediction of the outcome of the disease. Therefore, a reliable imaging method needs to be used. Musculoskeletal ultrasound (US) is a sensitive method for the detection of both early inflammatory soft tissue lesions (eg, synovitis, tenosynovitis, and bursitis) and early bone lesions (eg, erosions) in arthritic joint diseases and correlates well with MRI. Several musculoskeletal US scores are used for monitoring RA disease activity. Different qualitative (0/1) and semiquantitative (0-3) systems and quantitative measurements are used. The semiquantitative four-grade system developed by Skudlarek et al, which evaluates joint effusion, synovial thickening, bone erosion and power Doppler activity, is used most often. The new seven-joint ultrasound (US7) score is the first US sum score system which combines soft tissue (synovitis and tenosynovitis/paratenonitis) and destructive lesions (erosions) in a composite scoring system. The US7 score provides a fast overview of disease activity in daily rheumatological practice. This article reviews different US scores and sum scoring systems and current and proposed activity in this field.
25318621 [Perioperative management of patients with rheumatoid arthritis]. 2014 Nov Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by joint and systemic manifestations. As the prevalence in the adult population is approximately 1 %, anesthesia management in patients with RA has to be performed on a regular basis. Besides elective orthopedic surgery, e.g. surgery of the cervical spine, all other types of planned and emergency surgery should also be anticipated. Administering anesthesia to a patient with RA can be challenging not only due to a higher incidence of difficult intubation but also because of various organ manifestations as well as an elevated cardiovascular risk. Furthermore, possible complications should be considered in patients with chronic medication, particularly in patients treated with immunomodulating drugs. Therefore, a careful preoperative evaluation, preparation for possible difficult airway management and a selective anesthesia management in patients with RA can prevent possible complications.
25238951 Early lessons from the recent-onset rheumatoid arthritis cohort ESPOIR. 2015 Jan ESPOIR is a French multicenter cohort of patients with undifferentiated arthritis enrolled within six months of symptom onset, naive to disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs and corticosteroid therapy, and either having rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or being at risk for progression to RA. The cohort is sponsored by the French Society for Rheumatology (Société française de rhumatologie [SFR]). Between December 2002 and March 2005, 813 patients were enrolled at 14 regional university hospitals, with the participation of a network of community-based rheumatologists. The objective was to establish a database on recent-onset inflammatory joint disease and, more specifically, on RA to serve for scientific research in the clinical, epidemiological, pathophysiological, and healthcare-cost fields. Ten years after enrolment were started, the cohort still has about 500 patients. The scientific committee has approved 104 clinical research projects, of which many are ongoing, and 54 original articles written by numerous French and international groups have been published. These projects cover a vast spectrum of topics including environmental factors, diagnosis, outcomes, prognosis, disease evaluation, imaging, genetics, biomarkers, costs, and RA management strategies.
24479835 Rheumatoid arthritis: an autoimmune disease with female preponderance and cardiovascular r 2014 Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic, inflammatory disease with female preponderance, characterized by severe articular and extraarticular manifestations. Cardiovascular (CV) disease in RA usually occurs a decade earlier than age- and sex-matched controls and patients with RA are twice more likely to develop myocardial infarction irrespective of age, history of prior CVD events and traditional CV risk factors. It has been shown that atherosclerotic CV disease in RA shares similarities with CV disease in diabetes mellitus (DM) in terms of clinical presentation and preclinical atherosclerosis. In addition to atherosclerosis, RA also increases risk of non-ischemic heart failure, valvular disease and myopericardial disease. Therefore, RA is considered at least a cardiovascular equivalent to diabetes mellitus. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR), a non-invasive, nonradiating technique, and due to its capability to perform tissue characterisation, can effectively identify CVdisease acuity and etiology during the course of RA. CMR, by using a combination of function evaluation, oedema-fibrosis detection and stress perfusion-fibrosis imaging can unveil myocarditis, cardiomyopathy, diffuse subendocardial vasculitis, coronary and peripheral artery disease in RA patients, who usually are oligo-asymptomatic. Additionally, CMR is the ideal technique for operator independent, reproducible diagnostic and follow up assessment. However, lack of availability, expertise and high cost still remain serious drawbacks of CMR.
24315054 Outcomes of early rheumatoid arthritis--the WHO ICF framework. 2013 Aug With the establishment of the new American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism (ACR/EULAR) 2010 criteria for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to diagnose patients earlier and with the introduction of early and aggressive treatment, the current aim is remission resulting in less functional disability, halting of radiographic damage, less pain, less fatigue and no loss of employment. These outcomes can be related to the World Health Organization International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (the WHO ICF framework). This framework includes the component body functions, body structures, activities and participation related to the disease. These components are related to each other in a bidirectional way and can be influenced by contextual factors including environmental and personal factors. This framework can be used to describe trends in RA outcomes and the impact of contextual factors on these outcomes. Despite aggressive treatment strategies, patients with RA still experience loss of function, pain and fatigue, and a relatively high proportion of patients have to take sick leave or become work disabled within the first few years of the disease. There is evidence that more stringent definitions of remission lead to greater improvement of outcomes and that the aim should be sustained remission and not just remission. There is, however, a need for a better understanding of the relation between contextual factors and activity and participation outcomes to better guide therapy decisions by rheumatologists and provide information to patients, families and policymakers about the impact of RA on their lives and to the society. The overall aim of this overview is to highlight the important contextual factors and consequences that relate to outcomes typically measured in RA studies and to demonstrate the additional benefits that can be achieved with remission and sustained remission.
25427993 Autoimmune thyroid disease and rheumatoid arthritis: relationship and the role of genetics 2014 Dec Autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD), known as the most common organ-specific autoimmune disorder, is frequently accompanied by other organ and non-organ-specific autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Although the exact pathogenic mechanisms of the coexistence of autoimmune disorders are still not completely defined, genetics, immune defects, hormones and environmental factors may play key roles in polyautoimmunity. In this review, the prevalence of AITD and antithyroid autoantibodies in RA patients and rheumatic manifestations in association with thyroid autoimmunity are discussed. Finally, we review the role of genetics in the association of both AITD and RA, especially CTLA-4 and PTPN22 polymorphisms.
24049097 Sonographic synovial vascularity of synovitis in rheumatoid arthritis. 2014 Apr RA is a condition of multiple synovitis. Abnormal synovial vascularity (SV) is evident with the onset of joint inflammation. The idea of estimating the level of joint inflammation by sonographic SV was conceived with the advancement of US. The ideal treatment strategy, called treat to target (T2T), requires early diagnosis and assessment of RA. Detection of positive SV can be useful for proving the presence of synovitis and finally diagnosing RA. In the assessment of RA, US-based global scores aimed at assessing overall disease activity have the potential to be useful for the achievement of T2T because US can directly detect changes in synovitis. Remaining SV in local joints increases the risk of structural deterioration. RA requires both improvement of overall disease activity and the disappearance of local SV for remission. The evaluation of SV provides various information and contributes to the clinical treatment of RA.
25151973 Cervical spine involvement in rheumatoid arthritis--a systematic review. 2014 Dec Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic chronic inflammatory disorder that can compromise the cervical spine in up to 80% of the cases. The most common radiological presentations of cervical involvement are atlantoaxial subluxation (AAS), cranial settling and subaxial subluxation (SAS). We performed a systematic review in the PubMed Database of articles published later 2005 to evaluate the prevalence, progression and risk factors for cervical spine involvement in RA patients. Articles were classified according to their level of evidence. Our literature review reported a wide range in the prevalence of cervical spine disease, probably explained by the different studied populations and disease characteristics. Uncontrolled RA is probably the main risk factor for developing a spinal instability. Adequate treatment with DMARD and BA can prevent development of cervical instabilities but did not avoid progression of a pre-existing injury. MRI is the best radiological method for diagnosis cervical spine involvement. AAS is the most common form of RA. Long term radiological follow-up is necessary to diagnosis patients with late instabilities and monitoring progression of diagnosed injuries.
24151619 Cancer morbidity in rheumatoid arthritis: role of estrogen metabolites. 2013 Estrogen metabolites have been implicated in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and cancer, although the mechanism remains unestablished. Some estrogen metabolites, which are used for the assessment of cancer risk, play an important role in RA. The pathways by which malignancies associated with RA remain elusive. Possible mechanism involves enzymatic or nonenzymatic oxidation of estrogen into catecholestrogen metabolites through semiquinone and quinone redox cycle to produce free radicals that can cause DNA modifications. Modifications of DNA alter its immunogenicity and trigger various immune responses leading to elevated levels of cancer and RA antibodies. However, the role of different estrogen metabolites as a mediator of immune response cannot be ruled out in various immune-related diseases.
25215307 Clinical biomarkers and pathogenic-related cytokines in rheumatoid arthritis. 2014 Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common autoimmune disease with unknown etiology and pathogenesis. Although major therapeutic advances have been made in recent years, there is no cure for the disease. Current medications mainly reduce inflammation in order to relieve pain and slow joint damage, but many have potentially serious side effects. Therefore, to find specific biomarkers will benefit both RA patients to find relief from the disease and physicians to monitor the disease development. A number of biomarkers have been discovered and used clinically, and others are still under investigation. The autoantibodies, which are widely used in diagnosis and prognosis, novel biomarkers, which reflect clinical disease activity, and newly found biomarkers and pathogenic-related cytokines are discussed in this review.
24308837 The intelligent use of systemic glucocorticoids in rheumatoid arthritis. 2014 Jan Glucocorticoids (GC) have potent anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects and are widely used in the management of rheumatoid arthritis in combination with other disease-modifying anti-rheumatoid drugs. Concern about the risk of adverse effects may be to some extent misplaced as low to moderate doses of GC have different mechanisms of action and risk profiles compared with high doses. This review discusses the current understanding about the different modes of action of GC, their strong disease-modifying properties and the efforts at improving the therapeutic ratio of GC through the development of new drugs which promise greater safety such as selective GC receptor agonists, liposomal GC and modified-release (MR) prednisone.
24467605 The potential role of angiogenic factors in rheumatoid arthritis. 2014 May Angiogenesis is an important phenomenon in the pathogenesis of some diseases, such as numerous types of tumors and autoimmunity, and also a number of soluble and cell-bound factors may stimulate neovascularization in inflammatory reaction processes. Here, by highlighting the significance of angiogenesis reaction in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), we will mainly focus on the role of various growth factors, cytokines, enzymes, cells, hypoxic conditions and transcription factors in the angiogenic process and we will then explain some therapeutic strategies based on blockage of angiogenesis and modification of the vascular pathology in RA.
24151948 Treating to target in rheumatoid arthritis - challenges and opportunities. 2013 The treat to target approach to managing therapy in rheumatoid arthritis was only just formally proposed in 2010, yet it is clearly here to stay. While the original recommendations were based on a limited set of published data, subsequent studies have explored the role of the treat to target approach in a variety of clinical settings and have confirmed its value. Despite this, additional data is needed, and challenges still remain in the widespread implementation of the treat to target strategy. Some of these challenges are at the patient level, some are at the physician level, and some are at the system level. The identification of these challenges is in itself an opportunity to improve the treat to target paradigm in order to maximize the outcomes of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
25437284 Detecting the earliest signs of rheumatoid arthritis: symptoms and examination. 2014 Nov Signs and symptoms often occur well in advance of a formal diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, these do not necessarily represent symptoms that are included in classification criteria. Their intensity, frequency, and persistence over time seem to be important in the spectrum from preclinical autoimmunity to classifiable RA. Prospective study of signs and symptoms in individuals at risk for RA will help to determine their onset and relationship with epitope spreading, cytokine evolution, sensitive imaging, and their usefulness in discriminating between individuals patients who will develop incident inflammatory arthritis versus normal controls.
24609760 Hypereosinophilia and seroconversion of rheumatoid arthritis. 2014 Nov At the intersection of atopy and autoimmunity, we present a patient with seronegative rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who developed hypereosinophilia, without evidence of other etiologies, as she became rheumatoid factor (RF) positive. Although the magnitude of eosinophilia in patients with RA has been thought to reflect the severity or activity of the RA, in our patient, eosinophilia developed at a time when the patient's synovitis was well controlled. Although eosinophilia may reflect associated drug hypersensitivity, discontinuation of the medications utilized to control our patient's disease, adalimumab and methotrexate, did not promote clinical improvement. Probably the most curious aspect of our patient was the concomitant development of rheumatoid factor seropositivity in the setting of previously seronegative RA. The temporal relationship between the development of peripheral eosinophilia and seroconversion suggests a possible connection between these events. We speculate that the T cell cytokine production that can induce eosinophilia may simultaneously activate RF production.
24215742 Autoimmunity to citrullinated proteins and the initiation of rheumatoid arthritis. 2013 Dec Clinical manifestations of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the second most common human autoimmune disease, are primarily focused on the joints, causing disability and requiring life-long treatment to ameliorate signs and symptoms. The etiology of RA is unknown; however, important discoveries in two areas have been made which provide hope that the causal mechanisms can be identified. First, the most severe form of this disease is associated with the presence of humoral and cellular autoimmunity to citrullinated proteins and peptides. Second, in the natural history of RA, autoimmunity to citrullinated antigens appears years before the onset of clinically apparent disease. Herein is described a model in which to consider how these two features are linked during very early disease development.
24705030 The social cost of rheumatoid arthritis in Italy: the results of an estimation exercise. 2014 Mar 14 The objective of this study is to estimate the mean annual social cost per adult person and the total social cost of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in Italy. A literature review was performed by searching primary economic studies on adults in order to collect cost data of RA in Italy in the last decade. The review results were merged with data of institutional sources for estimating - following the methodological steps of the cost of illness analysis - the social cost of RA in Italy. The mean annual social cost of RA was € 13,595 per adult patient in Italy. Affecting 259,795 persons, RA determines a social cost of € 3.5 billions in Italy. Non-medical direct cost and indirect cost represent the main cost items (48% and 31%) of the total social cost of RA in Italy. Based on these results, it appears evident that the assessment of the economic burden of RA solely based on direct medical costs evaluation gives a limited view of the phenomenon.
24534470 Novel insight into the role of α-actinin-1 in rheumatoid arthritis. 2014 Feb The knowledge of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) pathology is rapidly advancing and becoming more and more complex, and a simple fact is that the major organ targeted by RA pathogenic factors is the synovium. It is well known that fibroblast-like synovial (FLS) cell is the major cell-type for constructing synovium. Following stimulation by pro-inflammatory cytokines, FLS cells are phenotypically changed to have the capability to proliferate abnormally. Recently we demonstrated that α-actinin-1 (ACTN1) gene is significantly increased in synovial tissues obtained from RA, as compared to osteoarthritis (OA). We therefore reviewed the literature about α-actinins (ACTNs) and we now propose that ACTN1 may function as a "terminal effector" of intracellular signalings initiated by tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-1 (IL-1) in RA. Future research on ACTN1 may help to improve the current therapeutic and diagnostic strategies of RA.
23337169 Current therapies in rheumatoid arthritis: a Latin American perspective. 2013 Mar Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic inflammatory disease affecting the synovium of joints, tendons, and some extra-articular sites. RA prevalence in Latin America ranges from 0.4 to 1.6%. Early treatment of RA translates into a substantial reduction in the cost to society. In light of this, early disease clinics are being established in some countries. Barriers to RA management, such as delay in referral to rheumatologists and limited access to therapy, have been identified. Evidence-based treatment guidelines have been adapted by countries according to their own situations. The need for keeping accurate records of biologics prescribed has been addressed by biologic registries, thereby contributing toward a better understanding of rheumatic diseases and their treatment. Current biologics include the tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α inhibitors (etanercept, infliximab, and adalimumab), B-cell depletion agent (rituximab), interleukin-6 receptor blocker (tocilizumab), and T-cell co-stimulatory blocker (abatacept). Future therapies include kinase inhibitors (tofacitinib and fostamatinib), alternative TNF-α inhibitors (golimumab and certolizumab), and biosimilars.
24763532 The pathogenic potential of autoreactive antibodies in rheumatoid arthritis. 2014 May Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease affecting ∼1 % of the population. Although major advances have been made in the treatment of RA, relatively little is known about disease pathogenesis. Autoantibodies, present in approximately 60 % of the patients with early disease, might provide indications for immunological mechanisms underlying RA. Among the RA-associated autoantibodies, especially anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPAs) have been studied intensively in the last decade. The discovery of ACPAs resulted into novel insight in RA pathogenesis and allowed division of the heterogeneous entity of RA into an ACPA-positive and ACPA-negative subset of disease. Other autoantibodies discovered in the serum of RA patients, including rheumatoid factors (RFs) targeting human IgG and anti-peptidylarginine deiminase (PAD)3/4 antibodies reactive against and activating the enzyme involved in citrullination, might contribute in collaboration with ACPAs to a feed-forward loop to aggravate erosive outcome of disease. Recently, a novel autoantibody system associated with RA was identified. These autoantibodies recognize carbamylated proteins (anti-CarP antibodies) and are detected in approximately 20 % of ACPA-negative patients, suggesting another parameter to sub-classify RA. In this review, the implication of autoantibodies in RA pathogenesis, diagnosis, prognosis and as biomarker for personalized medicine is discussed.