Subcutaneous abatacept (Orencia) showed efficacy among children with polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) in an open-label phase III trial.

The Journal of Clinical Investigation reports the results of a trial wherein etanercept (ETN) was shown to be effective in treating cytotoxic T lymphocyte–mediated (CTL-mediated) severe cutaneous adverse reactions (SCARs), including Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (T

An animal model study in the Journal of Endocrinololgy reports the potential use of leflunomide in the control of hyperglycemia in male mice. 

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and highlights from the past week on RheumNow.com.

Pregnant women (n=254) with rheumatoid arthritis who enrolled in the MotherToBaby Autoimmune Diseases in Pregnancy Study  and who were taking oral glucocorticoids were studied. 

A systematic review of the literature on the relationship between diet during pregnancy, lactation, or the first year of life suggests that maternal ingestion of probiotic and fish oil supplementation may reduce risk of eczema and allergic sensitization to food, respectively.

Capelli and colleagues have studied patients treated with ICIs and found two variants of inflammatory arthritis (IA) - a reactive arthritis like large joint arthritis with combination ICI therapy or a small joint IA with ICI monotherapy.

This retrospective review is drawn from the authors collection of the most impactful publications, research and news that occurred in 2017.  In no particular order, here are my top rheumatology advances, news and research reports for calendar year 2017.

Dalbeth and colleagues have published that among gout patients without palpable tophic and despite long term allopurinol, nearly half have monosodium urate (MSU) as detected by Dual-energy CT (DECT).  The total body urate deposition is even greater in those with higher sUA and evidence

Gabay and colleagues have reported the results of a novel new recombinant human IL-18 binding protein, tadekinig alfa, demonstrating its effectiveness in an open-label dose escalating study in patients with adult-onset Still's disease (AOSD).

In animal studies, probenecid was shown to have positive inotropic effects on the cardiomyocyte mediated by transient receptor potential vanilloid 2 activation.

An 8-week course of prednisone plus rituximab (Rituxin) offered good outcomes in patients with antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV), including complete remission, researchers reported.

A Taiwanese study of 55,629 hypertensive patients shows no increased risk of  major cardiovascular events comparing outcomes of patients started on COX-2 selective NSAIDs compared with nonselective NSAIDs (including ibuprofen, diclofenac and naproxen).

Pisetsky and colleagues have reported in the Annals of Rheumatic Disease that ANA tests done on established SLE patients may yield surprisingly disparate results.

While ANA negative lupus was a problem of old assays and the loss of ANA positivity may be seen with chronicity or age, most rheumatologists believe that ANA positivity is an absolute requirement for the diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus.

New guidelines have been developed by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) on how to assess and manage of immune checkpoint inhibitor side effects that are often autoimmune in nature.

A study of USA administrative claims data between 2000 to 2014 assessed the risk of cancer with exposure to tumour necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) in pediatric patients and found that TNFi therapy did not significantly increase the risk compared those not receiving TNFi.

UK researchers have treated 248 patients with moderate to severe hand pain and radiographic osteoarthritis (OA) and demonstrated no benefit after 12 months of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), according to a recent article in Annals of Internal Medicine.

An analysis of the UK Biobank study found no link between calcium/vitamin D supplementation and incident cardiovascular events/deaths in a large prospective study of 475,255 men and women aged 40 to 69 years.

The 2018 American Academy of Dermatology Annual Meeting features recent findings of a phase III trial of apremilast in active Behçet’s Disease, showing significant reductions in oral ulcers at week 12 for those treated with apremilast 30 mg twice daily.

An analysis of 43,706 adults from the 1999-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) demonstrated temporal trends in the prevalence of arthritis, including a rise in osteoarthritis (OA) from 6.6% to 14.3%, while the prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) decreased from 5.9%