0000000000887180

AUTHOR

D. Andersone

The Impact of Body Mass Index on Disease Progression in Ankylosing Spondylitis

Abstract Obesity can be a factor that affects the course of chronic systemic inflammatory arthritis. The objective of this study was to characterise patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) according to an evaluation of their body mass index (BMI) and by exploring the link between the overweightness and obesity with routinely measured disease-specific variables, including disease activity (Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index BASDAI; Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Score, using CRP, ASDAScrp), spinal mobility (Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Metrology Index, BASMI), functional capacity (BASFI), extraspinal manifestations like fatigue, uveitis, and peripheral arthritis pre…

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Tumour necrosis factor   in rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis patients in blood serum and synovial fluid

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease of unknown cause which affects the ability of elderly people to work. There is strong evidence to suggest that inflammatory mediators such as tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα) and interleukin 1 (IL1) have a critical role in the pathogenesis of RA. Biological treatment blocks pathological pathways in the actions of these proinflammatory cytokines. The aim of this study was …

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Research Article <i>CD40</i> rs4810485 <i>T>G</i> polymorphism and susceptibility to ankylosing spondylitis in the Latvian population

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a potentially disabling form of a systemic chronic inflammatory arthritis affecting mainly the axial skeleton, with or without extraspinal manifestations. The genetic basis of AS is partly known. Moreover, many autoimmunityrelated genes have pleiotropic effects. Multiple functional polymorphisms in the genes encoding the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) superfamily of cytokines, their receptors, and signaling proteins, are associated with susceptibility to autoimmune diseases. These arguments prompted us to conduct a study evaluating a possible association of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs4810485 of the CD40 gene, found previously to be involved in other i…

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