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P. Gingivalis Antibodies Antedate Rheumatoid Arthritis Onset
Periodontal disease, gingivitis and Porphyromonas gingivalis have been linked to the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and the production of anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA).
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NIH Discovers Otulipenia - New Infantile Autoinflammatory Disorder
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health, led by Dr. Dan Kastner, have led the way in the discovery and understanding of numerous autoinflammatory diseases.
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HMGB1 as a Biomarker for Polymyositis and Dermatomyositis
High mobility group box chromosomal protein 1 (HMGB1) is a DNA-binding protein that functions as a structural co-factor. HMGB1 is actively secreted by macrophage/monocytes via inflammatory stimuli and is elaborated during apoptosis.
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Autoimmune Disease as Harbinger of Myelodysplasia
Myelodysplastic syndrome may infrequently present with inflammatory or autoimmune symptoms. This literature review shows a variety of presentations and treatment options for such patients.
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RheumNow Week in Review – 12 August 2016
Watch Dr. Cush review 13 highlights from this week on RheumNow.
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Cryptochromes Regulate Circadian Inflammation
Circadian rhythms may be disrupted or become exaggerated in a variety of inflammatory conditions. For instance, interleukin-6 (IL-6) and IL-1 have a known circadian cycle to their production, but the same can not be said for TNF.
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Severe, Refractory Psoriasis in HIV-Positive Patients: Are TNF Inhibitors a Solution?
Psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis are more prevalent, often more severe, and sometimes refractory to conventional treatments in HIV-positive patients, but clinicians are understandably concerned about moving on to immunosuppressive anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) agents when other treatments fai
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Serious Infections are Not Increased in HIV Patients Treated with TNF Inhibitors
Infections are a concern for many when using tumor necrosis factor-α inhibitor (TNFi) therapy to treat inflammatory disorders. Even moreso in those at higher risk.
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Pravastatin Improves Obstetric Outcomes in Anti-Phospholipid Syndrome Patients
Pregnancy complications of anti-phospholipid syndrome (APS) have included recurrent abortions, spontaneous fetal loss, preeclampsia, and premature birth. The etiopathogenesis of these events has been presumed to be placental thrombosis or infarction.
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Epigenetic Changes to Inflammasome Found in Autoinflammatory Syndromes
The gene mutations underlying inflammasome activity have been well described, but there appears to be variable penetrance among patients with the same gene mutation, suggesting additional mechanisms may influence disease expression.
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Gut Microbiome Shapes Risk and Response in Rheumatoid Arthritis
In Genome Medicine, Mayo Clinic researchers investigated a cohort of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, their relatives and a healthy control group analyzing the gut microbiome vial16S ribosomal DNA analysis of fecal samples.
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Vagal Stimulation Improves Cytokine Production and Rheumatoid Disease Activity
PNAS has published a study wherein an inducible “inflammatory reflex” delivered by vagus nerve stimulation was shown to inhibit the production of tumor necrosis factor (TNF), an inflammatory molecule that is a major therapeutic target in an animal model of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
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Angiogenic Biomarkers Predict Adverse Outcomes Pregnancies in Lupus
The PROMISSE (Predictors of Pregnancy Outcome: Biomarkers in Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus) study has revealed several important lessons in lupus care.
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Lupus Patients Genomically Stratified to Explain Treatment Responses
Systemic lupus is a clinically heterogeneous disorder, unified by requisite clinical features and exuberant humoral response to unknown triggers. While the diagnosis is easy, the disease course and management can be complicated and challenging.
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Sclerostin Inhibition May Worsen Rheumatoid Arthritis
Sclerostin, an inhibitor of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, negatively regulates osteoblast differentiation and has anti-anabolic effects on bone formation. Thus, inhibition of sclerostin is currently being studied as therapy for postmenopausal osteoporosis.
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AS Diagnosis Linked to CVD Risk
Prevalent patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) face a 30–50% increased risk of acute coronary, cerebrovascular, and thromboembolic events compared with the general population.
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Hypogonadism Ups the Risk of Autoimmunity
In a variety of models, testosterone has been shown to be immunosuppressive and deficiency of testosterone has been linked with autoimmune disease and increases in C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor, and interleukin-6 (IL-6).
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Dramatic Results for Interferon Blocker in SLE
Blocking the type 1 interferon receptor with the monoclonal antibody anifrolumab shows promise as a treatment for moderate-to-severe systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), according to a phase IIb study presented here.
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Pre-Clinical Use of Rituximab Forestalls Rheumatoid Onset
The results of the PRAIRI study were presented today at EULAR 2016 in London. These early findings suggest that individuals "at-risk" to develop rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may benefit from a short course of intravenously rituximab therapy.
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Mosquito Arthritis
In the last two years there have been increasing reports of mosquito-borne infectious arthritides. Dengue fever was best known until the introduction of viral infections due to chikungunya and Zika.
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