One of the hallmarks of aggressive rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is presence of antibodies against citrullinated protein antigens (ACPA).

Lopez and colleagues from Spain have studied the gut microbiome of l

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.

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.

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is clearly not related to rheumatoid arthritis and until recently has no identifiabile autoantigen linked to JIA.

Systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (SoJIA) is one of the most common underlying etiologies to the macrophage activation syndrome (MAS).  

CBC…it’s easy as 123! The complete blood count (aka, CBC) is the most routine, but indispensable, of all medical assessments.

Pregnancy and Immune Modulating Therapies

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).

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.

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

(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. 

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.

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.

Researchers from Keio University have published their results using novel JAK inhibitor peficitinib (ASP015K) as a monotherapy in moderate to severe RA patients. 

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.

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 (

The Journal of Immunology has published the findings of Virginia Tech researchers who have studied plasmacytoid dendritic cells and their ability to induce type I alpha interferon (IFN-α) in lupus. (Citation source: http://buff.ly/1MceeCl)

Rituximab (RTX) is highly effective at B cell depletion and this may be one of several hypothetical ways in which the drug works.  B cell numbers (measured as CD19+ B cells) plummet rapidly after the first infusion and stay down for 6-12 months.

The following is a compilation of abstracts presented at the 2015 Annual ACR meeting in San Francisco. These were chosen on the basis of impact, quality and safety message.