0000000000331724
AUTHOR
Roberto Caporali
The Clinical Value of Autoantibodies in Rheumatoid Arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a highly heterogeneous syndrome in terms of clinical presentation, progression, and response to therapy. In such a complicated context, the identification of disease-related biomarkers would be undoubtedly helpful in assisting tailored approaches for every patient. Despite remarkable efforts, however, progress in new biomarker development and validation is dramatically slow. At present, none of the candidate genetic, cellular, or molecular biomarker has yet surpassed the clinical value of RA-specific autoantibodies, including rheumatoid factor (RF) and anti-citrullinated protein autoantibodies (ACPA). Rather, recent years have witnessed significant advancements …
Patient-reported impact of spondyloarthritis on work disability and working life: the ATLANTIS survey
Background The aim was to establish how patients experience the impact of spondyloarthritis (SpA) on work disability and working life. Methods The survey was performed in 17/20 regions in Italy (1 January to 31 March 2013). A multiple-choice questionnaire was published on the official website of the sponsor - the National Association of Rheumatic Patients (ANMAR) - and hard-copies were distributed at outpatient clinics for rheumatic patients. Results Respondents (n = 770) were of both sexes (56 % men), educated (62 % at high school or more), of working age (75 % aged ≤60 years), and affected by SpA. The most common types diagnosed were ankylosing spondylitis (AS) (39 %) and psoriatic arthri…
Guidelines for biomarkers in autoimmune rheumatic diseases - evidence based analysis
Autoimmune rheumatic diseases are characterised by an abnormal immune system response, complement activation, cytokines dysregulation and inflammation. In last years, despite many progresses in managing these patients, it has been shown that clinical remission is reached in less than 50% of patients and a personalised and tailored therapeutic approach is still lacking resulting in a significant gap between guidelines and real-world practice. In this context, the need for biomarkers facilitating early diagnosis and profiling those individuals at the highest risk for a poor outcome has become of crucial interest. A biomarker generally refers to a measured characteristic which may be used as a…
Transitional care of young people with juvenile idiopathic arthritis in Italy: results of a Delphi consensus survey
OBJECTIVES: To present the results of a Delphi consensus survey among Italian paediatric and adult rheumatologists on transitional care (TC) of young people (YP) with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). METHODS: A taskforce of 27 paediatric and adult rheumatologists evaluated the applicability of the 2016 EULAR/PReS recommendations for TC to the Italian rheumatology practice and healthcare system and formulated additional country-specific statements aimed to increase their suitability. After a two-round discussion, applicability of EULAR/PReS recommendations and agreement with newly-proposed statements were voted on a 0-10 scale (where 0 = no applicability/agreement and 10 = total applicab…
Influence of Antisynthetase Antibodies Specificities on Antisynthetase Syndrome Clinical Spectrum Time Course
Antisynthetase syndrome (ASSD) is a rare clinical condition that is characterized by the occurrence of a classic clinical triad, encompassing myositis, arthritis, and interstitial lung disease (ILD), along with specific autoantibodies that are addressed to different aminoacyl tRNA synthetases (ARS). Until now, it has been unknown whether the presence of a different ARS might affect the clinical presentation, evolution, and outcome of ASSD. In this study, we retrospectively recorded the time of onset, characteristics, clustering of triad findings, and survival of 828 ASSD patients (593 anti-Jo1, 95 anti-PL7, 84 anti-PL12, 38 anti-EJ, and 18 anti-OJ), referring to AENEAS (American and Europea…
A comparison between nailfold capillaroscopy patterns in adulthood in juvenile and adult-onset systemic sclerosis: A EUSTAR exploratory study.
Objective: Qualitative capillaroscopy patterns in juvenile- and adult-onset systemic sclerosis (SSc) were studied in adulthood using data from the EULAR Scleroderma Trials and Research (EUSTAR) database. Methods: Data collected between June 2004 and April 2013 were examined with focus on capillaroscopy. In this retrospective exploratory study, series of patients with juvenile-onset SSc were matched with series of adult-onset SSc having the same gender and autoantibody profile. Results: 30 of 123 patients with juvenile-onset and 2108 of 7133 with adult-onset SSc had data on capillaroscopy. Juvenile-onset SSc showed scleroderma pattern more frequently than adult-onset SSc (93.3% and 88%). The…