Search results for "030203 arthritis & rheumatology"

International consensus: What else can we do to improve diagnosis and therapeutic strategies in patients affected by autoimmune rheumatic diseases (r…

2017

Autoimmune diseases are a complex set of diseases characterized by immune system activation and, although many progresses have been done in the last 15 years, several unmet needs in the management of these patients may be still identified. Recently, a panel of international Experts, divided in different working groups according to their clinical and scientific expertise, were asked to identify, debate and formulate a list of key unmet needs within the field of rheumatology, serving as a roadmap for research as well as support for clinicians. After a systematic review of the literature, the results and the discussions from each working group were summarised in different statements. Due to th…

Invariant NKT Cells and Rheumatic Disease: Focus on Primary Sjogren Syndrome.

2019

Primary Sjogren syndrome (pSS) is a complex autoimmune disease mainly affecting salivary and lacrimal glands. Several factors contribute to pSS pathogenesis; in particular, innate immunity seems to play a key role in disease etiology. Invariant natural killer (NK) T cells (iNKT) are a T-cell subset able to recognize glycolipid antigens. Their function remains unclear, but studies have pointed out their ability to modulate the immune system through the promotion of specific cytokine milieu. In this review, we discussed the possible role of iNKT in pSS development, as well as their implications as future markers of disease activity.

Paracrine effects of human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells in inflammatory stress-induced senescence features of osteoarthritic chondrocytes

2016

Aging and exposure to stress would determine the chondrocyte phenotype in osteoarthritis (OA). In particular, chronic inflammation may contribute to stress-induced senescence of chondrocytes and cartilage degeneration during OA progression. Recent studies have shown that adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells exert paracrine effects protecting against degenerative changes in chondrocytes. We have investigated whether the conditioned medium (CM) from adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells may regulate senescence features induced by inflammatory stress in OA chondrocytes. Our results indicate that CM down-regulated senescence markers induced by interleukin-1β including senescence-associated β…

No diagnostic utility of antibody patterns against Klebsiella pneumoniae capsular serotypes in patients with axial spondyloarthritis vs. patients wit…

2017

OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether antibody response patterns against Klebsiella pneumoniae capsular serotypes can discriminate patients with axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) from patients with non-specific low back pain (LBP).METHOD: Immunoglobulin (Ig)G and IgA antibodies against K. pneumoniae capsular serotypes K2, K26, K36, and K50 were measured, and antibody seropositivity compared between groups and analysed for patient correlation in five different groups: (a) 96 patients fulfilling the Assessment of SpondyloArthritis International Society (ASAS) classification criteria for axSpA; (b) 38 patients with either a positive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan as defined by ASAS or a posi…

The role of the gastrointestinal tract in the pathogenesis of rheumatic diseases

2016

Dysregulation of the intestinal epithelial barrier in genetically susceptible individuals may lead to both intestinal and extraintestinal autoimmune disorders. There is emerging literature on the role of microbiota changes in the pathogenesis of systemic rheumatic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, spondyloarthropathies, and connective tissue diseases. Although the role of the gastrointestinal tract in the pathogenesis of spondyloartropathies is well defined and many studies underline the importance of gastrointestinal inflammation in modulating local and systemic inflammation, the data are inconclusive regarding the effect of dysbiosis on rheumatoid arthritis and connective tissue dise…

2021

Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease and patients are under an increased risk for cardiovascular (CV) events and mortality. The increased CV risk for patients with SLE seems to be caused by a premature and accelerated atherosclerosis, attributable to lupus-specific risk factors (i.e., increased systemic inflammation, altered immune status), apart from traditional CV risk factors. To date, there is no established experimental model to explore the pathogenesis of this increased CV risk in SLE patients. Methods: Here we investigated whether MRL-Faslpr mice, which develop an SLE-like phenotype, may serve as a model to study lupus-mediated v…

Gut-derived CD8+ tissue-resident memory T cells are expanded in the peripheral blood and synovia of SpA patients

2019

We read with interest the recently published paper from Qaiyum et al 1 demonstrating a novel integrin-expressing mature Crohn's disease (CD)8+ T cell population defined as CD49a+CD103+β7+CD29+ cells in the synovial fluids of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients. Although the authors did not analyse gut samples from AS patients, they speculate that these cells might be gut-derived cells. Interestingly, as stated by authors, the transcriptional and phenotypic signature of these cells is reminiscent of human tissue-resident memory T cells (TRM). TRM are a subset of cells important as the first line of defence from infection in mucosal tissues, never studied in spondyloarthritis (SpA).2 For cla…

Secukinumab efficacy in patients with PsA is not dependent on patients' body mass index

2020

We read with interest the recently published paper from McGonagle et al 1 analysing the role of interleukin (IL)-17A in axial spondyloarthritis and psoriatic arthritis (PsA). The meta-analysis and functional study provided by the authors highlighted the efficacy of IL-17A block by secukinumab in the treatment of PsA. However, there is no mention of the role of body mass index (BMI), if any, in influencing the clinical response to secukinumab, given the lack of published data. PsA is a chronic inflammatory arthritis burdened by a series of metabolic comorbidities. Among them, obesity is very common in PsA, with a prevalence of 27%, as confirmed by a recent Spanish work.2 Obesity in PsA has b…

A cyclic peptide significantly improves thyroid function, thyrotropin-receptor antibodies and orbital mucine /collagen content in a long-term Graves’…

2021

BALB/c mice which received long-term immunizations of adenovirus (Ad) expressing thyrotropin receptor A-subunits (TSHR) developed stable Graves' disease (GD). TSHR-derived cyclic peptide 19 (P19) was identified as effective therapy in this model.In Ad-TSHR mice, we investigated shorter disease intervals up to 4 months for histological alterations of the orbits, fine tuning of anti-TSHR antibodies (Ab) and free thyroxine (fT4) hormone levels by using novel detection methods in an independent laboratory. Therapy (0.3 mg/kg P19 or vehicle) was given intravenously after the fourth Ad-TSHR immunization (week 11) and continued until week 19.Thyrotropin binding inhibitory immunoglobulins (TBII, br…

Association between hypovitaminosis D and systemic sclerosis: True or fake?

2016

Abstract Background Vitamin D insufficiency/deficiency is considered a major factor triggering and enhancing several autoimmune disorders; hypovitaminosis D has been reported to be common in Systemic Sclerosis (SSc). Previous studies assessing vitamin D insufficiency/deficiency in SSc have been reviewed, and the relation with pathogenesis and clinical features has been examined. Content Eligibility criteria were: reporting measurement of Vitamin D serum levels in all participants and evaluating adult onset-SSc individuals as patients group. Results: The association between clinical features and low hormone levels is controversial. Manifold data have shown vitamin D insufficiency/deficiency …