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

ID PMID Title PublicationDate abstract
7268329 The rheumatoid patient in need of a wheelchair. 1981 The situation of 40 severely disabled arthritic patients who have received a wheelchair is reported. Most of the patients had had their rheumatoid arthritis for more than 15 years. Knee involvement was frequently the reason for needing a wheelchair. Most of the patients had general joint involvement. Orthopedic- or handsurgery as well as proper technical aids and a well adapted housing facilitated the maintenance of functional capacity. Wheelchairs with big wheels back, seat higher than normal, raisable and removable leg rests, neck-support and elongated brake handle will satisfy most patients. In our series most complaint was reported regarding back support and front wheels. The majority of the patients had an optimistic attitude to their situation. Eighteen of the 40 patients regretted not having accepted a wheelchair earlier.
458788 Further studies on the specific infectious agent isolated in rheumatoid arthritis. 1979 Mar The active agent in crude or extracted materials from patients with acute rheumatoid arthritis (RA), when injected into embryonated eggs, produced an increased percentage of characteristic "crooked toe" defects in the bioassay. Experimental RA chick materials also produced these defects. A protein-free ribonucleic acid extract from RA synovia and joint fluids of patients with acute or subacute classical RA produced the same experimental RA lesions as did the crude materials, but non-RA materials and controls did not. The injected RA material produced the "crooked toe" disease in chicks in direct proportion to the clinically diagnosed severity of the RA in the patient, and inversely with dilution.
300117 Improvement of rheumatoid arthritis following splenectomy for Felty syndrome. 1977 Mar 14 A patient with Felty syndrome underwent splenectomy because of persistent high fever, leg ulcer, and granulocytopenia. Subsequently, his rheumatoid synovitis went into prolonged remission. In addition, the leg ulcer healed; his WBC count, hemoglobin level, temperature, ESR, and weight returned to normal; the rheumatoid factor titer dropped substantially; and the antinuclear antibodies disappeared. These changes have persisted to the present time, more than 5 1/2 years after surgery.
6459655 Genetic aspects of rheumatoid arthritis. 1981 Studies on the population of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and families with multiple cases of rheumatoid arthritis have provided definite evidence that susceptibility to the disease is determined both by genetic factors associated with alleles of the major histocompatibility complex as well as environmental factors. The development of seropositive, but not seronegative rheumatoid arthritis is associated with the presence in an individual of the Ia alloantigen HLA-DR4. This association is common to all major ethnic groups. Some evidence exists that this association is stronger in patients that have more severe disease but this fact requires further study. The fraction of the seropositive patients with rheumatoid arthritis that lack HLA-DR4 has not been well characterized. The occurrence of certain untoward side effects of therapy is influenced by the presence of HLA-DR2 or HLA-DR3. Family studies emphasize the association with HLA-DR4, and indicate that the disease has a dominant mode of inheritance with partial penetrance. The inheritance of susceptibility appeared, at least in some families, to be primarily associated with the inheritance of HLA-DR4 itself and not well explained by a hypothetical disease susceptibility gene present at low frequency and associated in linkage disequilibrium with a HLA-DR4 marker. However, in others different mechanisms appeared more likely. A model of two MHC genes involved in influencing disease susceptibility is postulated. Speculations concerning the primary disease mechanism are presented involving abnormalities of IR genes, general immune regulation, and factors outside of the immune system.
7291933 [Chyliform effusions in rheumatoid arthritis. Cytochemical and ultrastructural studies of 1981 Jul The authors studied the cell composition and the cytochemistry and ultrastructure of the frothy cells in two periarticular chyliform effusions in rheumatoid arthritis. Compared with the polymorphonuclear cells, the mononuclear cells were very numerous with many frothy cells. Cholesterol crystals, identified by X-ray diffraction, were detected in fluids by polarised light, but only cytochemically and with the transmission electron microscope in the spumous cells. The latter contained not only neutral fat, but also hydrophobic lipids and phospholipids, but no cholesterol esters. A theory has been advanced that once phagocytosis has been accomplished, cholesterol crystal metabolism is not rapid and is too insufficient for cholesterol or its esters to accumulate in the cytoplasm. The polymorphonuclear leukocytes play only a small role in the phagocytosis of crystals and this probably plays a role in the absence of acute inflammation in structures which contain chyliform effusions.
7192125 Double blind cross-over trial comparing fenbufen and acetylsalicylic acid in rheumatoid ar 1980 25 out-patients with active classical or definite adult-onset rheumatoid arthritis were enrolled in a 4-week randomized, two-period double-blind cross-over study comparing gamma-oxo(1,1'-biphenyl)-4-butanoic acid (fenbufen) (1000 mg/d) and acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) (3600 mg/d). Only patients with active, flaring disease, off antiinflammatory drugs, were admitted into this study. Significant mean improvement from baseline was seen with both fenbufen and ASA after two weeks of treatment. There were no statistically significant differences between the degree of improvement from baseline between fenbufen and ASA. However, there were significant differences in patient tolerance of the two medications with more patients reporting adverse experiences with ASA than with fenbufen. The differences between treatments were statistically significant for side effects graded as moderate or severe with 6 patients experiencing drug-related side effects on ASA compared to none on fenbufen.
7249394 IgG rheumatoid factor, complement and immune complexes in rheumatoid synovitis and vasculi 1981 Jan IgG and IgM rheumatoid factors (IgG-RF and IgM-RF), complement and three assays for immune complexes were measured in 22 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) complicated by either chronic active synovitis or vasculitis. Patients with vasculitis had relatively inactive arthritis but had higher titres of rheumatoid factors, especially IgG-RF, anticomplementary activity (ACA) and lower levels of C4 than those with synovitis. Clq-binding and platelet aggregation (PA) levels were similar in both groups. Serial measurements during cytotoxic therapy showed a close temporal relationship between the clinical features of vasculitis and levels of IgG-RF, ACA and C4 both with remission and with relapse. We suggest that immune complexes containing IgG-RF which activate complement and are detected by ACA are useful markers of rheumatoid vasculitis and may be important in its pathogenesis.
6678694 Evaluating slow-acting antirheumatic drug therapies for rheumatoid arthritis. 1983 Jun Clinical trials with slow-acting or disease-modifying drugs in rheumatoid arthritis are difficult to design and execute. Such trials are expensive and require long periods of observation. However, there is no acceptable alternative to the properly designed and completed controlled clinical trial. Broad principles for the design of such trials and the basic elements of the study design are outlined and discussed.
1277573 The distribution of the third complement component and other polymorphic traits in rheumat 1976 Jun The distribution of C'3 phenotypes in 61 seropositive rheumatoid arthritis patients and 464 normal blood donors in Tokyo was examined by high-voltage agarose gel electrophoresis. The allele of the common European variant, C3(F), is absent in Japanese, but another F allels, C3(Frare), is present with a frequency of 0.025 and 0.013 in RA patients and blood donors, respectively; the difference is not statistically significant. The distribution of phenotypes for several other enzyme systems was also determined in an attempt to detect association with RA Again, no statistically significant differences were found.
6187504 Anti-keratin antibodies in rheumatoid arthritis: frequency and correlation with other feat 1983 Jan Anti-keratin antibodies (AKA) were detected in 68 out of 98 patients (69%) with classical or definite rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The intensity of the AKA reaction correlated significantly with articular index (AI), grip strength (GS), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), serum C-reactive protein (CRP) concentration, serum amyloid A (SAA) protein concentration, the level of antibodies against single stranded DNA (ssDNA) and the IgM rheumatoid factor (RF) titre. A significantly higher number of patients with nodules and Sjögren's syndrome were AKA positive compared with patients without extra-articular features (EAFs) and the AKA titre was significantly greater in the former group. The mechanisms underlying appearance of AKA are not known but may relate to an as yet unidentified structural alteration of keratin in this disease or may just reflect the rheumatoid autoimmune diathesis.
7131456 Relevance of urinary excretion of alcian blue-glycosaminoglycans complexes and hydroxyprol 1982 Jul Urinary excretion of glycosaminoglycans (GAG) and hydroxyproline was studied in 42 adult patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). A significant increase of GAG and hydroxyproline was found in RA patients compared to normal controls. RA patients fulfilling the criteria of disease activity were found to have urinary excretion of GAG and hydroxyproline higher than of RA patients not fulfilling these criteria. No significant correlation however was observed between urinary GAG and hydroxyproline. GAG and hydroxyproline excretion might be the expression of cartilage destruction and bone involvement and both may be related to the activity of the rheumatoid process.
6864685 Rheumatoid arthritis and antecedent tonsillectomy. 1983 Apr The association of antecedent tonsillectomy (T) and subsequent development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was investigated in a population of 405 patients with RA and 223 controls with low back syndrome (LBS) or osteoarthritis (OA). A similar matched pair analysis of 113 RA patients and 113 community controls was also conducted. All patients were matched for age and sex. All groups were similar in demographic characteristics. T(+) and T(-) RA patients were similar in severity and disease characteristic parameters. No differences were found in the frequency of tonsillectomy in either of the RA or control groups. These data suggest that antecedent tonsillectomy is not causally related to the development of RA.
6875226 Palmar arthroplasty for the treatment of the stiff swan-neck deformity. 1983 May Palmar arthroplasty for the treatment of the stiff swan-neck deformity in rheumatoid arthritis is designed to correct the mechanical block to flexion that is caused by palmar plate adhesions (which obliterate the retrocondylar recess) and by collateral ligament contracture and adhesions. This procedure can be performed at the same time as correction of the primary cause of proximal interphalangeal joint (PIP) hyperextension (e.g., intrinsic tightness or flexor tenosynovitis) and can also be supplemented with superficialis tenodesis to minimize recurrent hyperextension. Postoperative flexor dynamic traction, which is started at 24 to 48 hours and continued for a minimum of 3 to 4 weeks, is critical to the maintenance of motion. Arthroplasty in 47 PIP joints in 14 hands of 9 patients demonstrate an increase in motion from +20 degrees hyperextension and 9.5 degrees flexion to -7 degrees extension and 72 degrees flexion postoperatively.
210602 [Basic studies on chronic polyarthritis as a collagen-autoimmune disease]. 1978 May Clinical and experimental data establishing a hypothesis about rheumatoid arthritis (RA) as a collagen auto-immune disease are reviewed, beginning with the demonstration of rheumatoid synovial collagenase, the demonstration of collagen antibodies in the serum and the synovial fluid of patients with RA, the demonstration of collagen inclusion bodies and collagen-anticollagen immune complexes in synovial fluid cells and the synovial fluid of patients with RA, and leading to the in vitro demonstration of the inflammatory effect of such complexes, and the induction of experimental arthritis by these complexes. Each section contains tabular summaries of various investigations. Finally, a relation between these observations and the conclusions deduced from them and the appearance of rheumatoid factors in RA and the pathogenic effect of rheumatoid factor - gammaglobulin aggregates is considered.
6553485 Detection of kallikrein-like activity in inflamed synovial tissue. 1983 Apr The synovial tissue kallikrein of rheumatoid patients, arthritic dogs and normal dogs has been partially characterized and estimated. Both human and dog synovial tissue kinin-forming enzyme appears to be distinct from plasmin, plasma kallikrein and pancreatic kallikrein. In three rheumatoid arthritic patients, the mean synovial tissue kallikrein level was found to be 106 +/- 13.5 ng bradykinin equivalents (BK Equiv) per g per min. In nine arthritic dogs the mean synovial tissue kallikrein level, 60.5 +/- 4.5 ng BK Equiv per g per min, was found to be greater (p less than 0.05) than that of five normal dogs (21.6 +/- 5.3 ng BK Equiv per g per min). The possible significance of this finding is discussed.
6259838 [Diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis by a complex radionuclide study of the joints]. 1980 The knee joints of 88 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and 22 healthy subjects were examined via a complex radiometric method. The time for half-elimination of 133xenon, injected into the joints, is 154.8 minutes for the control group and 118.7 min, 81.6 min and 39.2 min according to the graded activity of rheumatoid arthritis. The accumulation of 99mTc-pertechnetate is 115.3% for the controls and 131.0%, 151.0% and 178.0% for the joints with inflammatory reaction. The accumulation of 99mTc-pyrophosphate is 115.7% and 133.0%, 149.9% and 170.7% respectively in the patients with I, II and III degree of rheumatoid arthritis activity. The manifestation of X-ray signs of osteo-articular destruction is combined with higher radionuclide indices than those corresponding to rheumatic activity. The results reveal an enhanced reactivity of all articular structures (synovial sac, bone-epiphyses) in the patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The following radio-isotope constellation is indicated for the early diagnostics and differential diagnosis in case of that disease: high effectiveness of articular 133xenon clearance, equivalence of figure expression and similarity in the changes of the depots 99mTc-pertechnetate and 99mTc-pyrophosphate in the knee joints of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
6969019 Sacroiliac joint involvement in classical or definite rheumatoid arthritis. 1980 In 188 patients with rheumatoid arthritis 564 radiologic examinations of the sacroiliac joints were performed. Severe blurring of the joint space or ankylosis were uncommon. The involvement was related to an age > 40 years at the onset, high values of the ESR and involvement of most joint groups in the limbs and cervical spine. Sex, presence or high titres of the rheumatoid factor and antinuclear antibodies were unrelated to lesions of the sacroiliac joints. A relation to the severity of rheumatoid arthritis rather than to the immunologic condition is suggested.
1085681 The effect of Levamisole on peripheral blood lymphocyte subpopulations in patients with rh 1976 Sep Although Levamisole, an antihelmintic drug, has shown to have some modulatory effect on the immune response in clinical trials and experimental models, its mode of action remains obscure. In a group of fifteen patients with rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis receiving Levamisole on an intermittant regime, simultaneous determinations of the lymphocyte subpopulations were made prior to Levamisole administration and 3 months thereafter. No significant changes were observed either in the absolute or in the relative number of T- and B-cell populations, while a statistically significant reduction was found in the "null" cells. These findings suggest that the immune potentiating effect of Levamisole may at least partially be due to a maturation process of the "null" cells.
6360178 Effect of lymphoplasmapheresis on clinical indices and T cell subsets in rheumatoid arthri 1983 Dec The effects of lymphoplasmapheresis on immunologic indices, including T cell subsets, and on clinical parameters of rheumatoid arthritis were evaluated in a controlled double-blind trial. Twenty patients were randomized to receive either 6 lymphoplasmapheresis sessions or a seemingly identical control procedure over a 3-week period. Lymphoplasmapheresis produced significant reduction in serum levels of total lymphocytes, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, and IgG. These serologic measures returned to baseline 5 weeks after lymphoplasmapheresis. No change in the imbalance of T cell subsets (increased helper/suppressor ratio) was observed. No changes in the serologic measures, except IgA, were observed in the control group. An improvement in some of the clinical parameters was observed in both the lymphoplasmapheresis and control groups. A rebound above baseline values for several parameters was observed in both the lymphoplasmapheresis and the sham apheresis groups.
6847260 Direct activation of neutrophil chemiluminescence by rheumatoid sera and synovial fluid. 1983 Apr The majority of paired sera and synovial fluids from 21 patients with rheumatoid arthritis produced a rapid chemiluminescent response when incubated with human neutrophils. Synovial fluid gave considerably higher responses than the paired serum specimen. In contrast little or no response was found with paired sera and joint fluid taken from patients with gout, psoriasis, and osteoarthritis and with sera from healthy donors. A similar chemiluminescent response was observed when neutrophils were preincubated with large aggregates of heated human gammaglobulin (HAGG), which were used as a model of immune complexes. Smaller nonreactive aggregates of gammaglobulin became reactive after preincubation with a purified monoclonal rheumatoid factor (mRF) which had a high avidity for aggregated IgG. The addition of this monoclonal rheumatoid factor also caused enhancement of chemiluminescence by rheumatoid sera. Further evidence suggesting that the active material found in these rheumatoid specimens contained complexed immunoglobulin was obtained by indirect immunofluorescence. Neutrophils developed intracellular immunoglobulin inclusions after preincubation in reactive rheumatoid sera but not with nonreactive or normal sera. However, activation of neutrophil chemiluminescence by rheumatoid specimens did not correlate significantly with levels of rheumatoid factor or immune complexes suggesting that the activating complexes were of a particular type. In conclusion we have shown the direct activation of neutrophil chemiluminescence by rheumatoid sera synovial fluid and suggest that the activation is caused by large IgG-containing immune complexes. It is possible that this activation may have important implications in the immunopathogenesis of the rheumatoid inflammatory process.