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α Defensin Control of Inflammation
Alpha defensins are released following apoptosis, necrosis, or netosis of human neutrophils. They are taken up by other cells and microbes, wherein they permeablize membranes and kill microbes and host cells. Thus, they augment the antimicrobial capacity of macrophages and at the same time inhibit the biosynthesis of proinflammatory cytokines.
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HLA-B*5801 Testing Needed in Asians and Blacks with Gout
Choi and colleagues analyzed US hospitalizations (2009–2013) to assess the frequency and racial distribution of patients hospitalized with Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS) and Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (TEN) related to the use of urate-lowering (ULT) therapy (predominantly allopurinol).
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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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Could Rheumatoid Synovium Be a Nursery for ACPA Producing Plasma Cells ?
One of the hallmarks of aggressive rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is presence of antibodies against citrullinated protein antigens (ACPA).
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Altering the Microbiome May Benefit Lupus Patients
Lopez and colleagues from Spain have studied the gut microbiome of l
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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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IL-6 Inhibition Makes News
Several new interleukin-6 inhibitors made headlines this week. While none of the new IL-6 inhibitors are soon to be approved and available, these studies may redefine the role of other non-TNF biologics in the future.
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Novel Protein as a Potential Autoantigen in JIA
Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is clearly not related to rheumatoid arthritis and until recently has no identifiabile autoantigen linked to JIA.
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New Classification Criteria for Macrophage Activation Syndrome
Systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (SoJIA) is one of the most common underlying etiologies to the macrophage activation syndrome (MAS).
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CBC Hidden Pearls
CBC…it’s easy as 123! The complete blood count (aka, CBC) is the most routine, but indispensable, of all medical assessments.
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RWCS 2016 – Periodic Fever and Macrophage Activation Syndrome + Pregnancy in IBD
Pregnancy and Immune Modulating Therapies
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FDA Advisory Arthritis Committee Votes to Approve the CT-P13 (infliximab) Biosimilar
On Tuesday February 9th Celltrion presented its biosimilar developmental data to the FDA as they sought approval for their CT-P13 (called Inflectra), a biosimilar of infliximab (Remicade).
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Arthritis Foundation Awards $5.5 Million to 11 Investigators
The Arthritis Foundation announced that 11 scientists were selected out of 167 proposals as the 2015 Scientific Discovery Awardees for their innovations toward finding a cure for arthritis and related diseases.
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Should You Avoid Pneumococcal Vaccine in CAPS and Behcet's Patients
Althought EULAR currently recommends the pneumococcal vaccine be given to patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends the vaccine in patients treated with immunosuppressive drugs, a recent brief report suggests it be
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NIH-Funded Trials Down, While Industry Trials Increase
(Reuters Health) – Every year since 2006 in the U.S., the amount of new medical research in humans funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has gone down, while the number of industry-funded trials has gone up, a new study shows.
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Ominous Outcomes for Lupus Nephritis
Hanly and coworkers have reported the results of a large lupus cohort study involving 1827 patients. SLE patients were enrolled early in their disease (0.5 years) and were followed for a mean of 4.6 years.
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The History of Citrullination (Best of 2015)
1998 marked the introduction of citrulline as a unique target in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis. The hallmark article by Schellekens et al in the Journal of Clinical Investigation has since been cited over 500 times. Dr.
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Will the Balance of JAK inhibition Yield Better Outcomes? Results of New JAK inhibitor - Peficitinib
Researchers from Keio University have published their results using novel JAK inhibitor peficitinib (ASP015K) as a monotherapy in moderate to severe RA patients.
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Predicting and Preventing Rheumatoid Arthritis
Rheumatologists and physicians are commonly asked, "what can I do to avoid rheumatoid arthritis?" This is usually a concern for family members of those affected by RA.
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Herpes Zoster Increases the Risk of Stroke and MI
At the 2015 ACR annual meeting in San Francisco, Len Calabrese, DO, of the Cleveland Clinic, gave a plenary session talk linking "shingles" infection to an increased risk of CVA (
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