Connective tissue disease

Primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) is a systemic autoimmune disease, characterized by lymphocytic infiltration of the secretory glands. This process leads to sicca syndrome, which is the combination of dryness of the eyes, oral cavity, pharynx, larynx and/or vagina. Extraglandular manifestations may also be prevalent in patients with pSS, including cutaneous, musculoskeletal, pulmonary, renal, hematological and neurological involvement. The pathogenesis of pSS is currently not well understood, but increased activation of B cells followed by immune complex formation and autoantibody production are thought to play important roles...

OBJECTIVES: Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a common yeast used in the food industry. IgG and IgA antibodies against the phosphopeptidomannan of the S. cerevisiae cell wall (ASCA) are a well known marker of disease severity in Crohn's disease. Moreover, a number of studies assessed ASCA in several systemic and organ-specific autoimmune diseases postulating molecular mimicry as a possible link between ASCA and autoimmunity. However, since they have never been tested in primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS), the purpose of this study was to investigate these antibodies in a large cohort of pSS patients, compared to healthy donors (HD), and their significance as potentially helpful biomarker in a clinical setting...

SLE is a chronic inflammatory disease that affects the kidneys in about 50% of patients. Lupus nephritis is a major risk factor for overall morbidity and mortality in SLE, and despite potent anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive therapies still ends in CKD or ESRD for too many patients. This review highlights recent updates in our understanding of disease epidemiology, genetics, pathogenesis, and treatment in an effort to establish a framework for lupus nephritis management that is patient-specific and oriented toward maintaining long-term kidney function in patients with lupus...

The idiopathic inflammatory myopathies are characterized by muscle weakness, skin disease and internal organ involvement. Autoimmunity is known to have a role in myositis pathogenesis, and myositis-specific autoantibodies, targeting important intracellular proteins, are regarded as key biomarkers aiding in the diagnosis of patients. In recent years, a number of novel myositis autoantibodies including anti-TIF1, anti-NXP2, anti-MDA5, anti-SAE, anti-HMGCR and anti-cN1A have been identified in both adult and juvenile patients...

OBJECTIVES: To develop and validate an international set of classification criteria for primary Sjögren's syndrome (SS) using guidelines from the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) and the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR). These criteria were developed for use in individuals with signs and/or symptoms suggestive of SS. METHODS: We assigned preliminary importance weights to a consensus list of candidate criteria items, using multi-criteria decision analysis...

OBJECTIVES: Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is one of the major systemic manifestations of primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS). The aim of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic effect of rituximab on pSS patients with ILD. METHODS: Pulmonary function test results, including diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO) and DLCO/alveolar volume (Va) ratio, and high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) findings/scores in ten pSS patients with ILD treated with rituximab were retrospectively investigated...

Capillaroscopy is a non-invasive, easy and safe diagnostic technique designed to evaluate small vessels of the microcirculation in the nailfold. It can reveal both the general architecture of capillary rows and fine details of particular vessels. The most important indications for performing capillaroscopy include differential diagnosis of primary and secondary Raynaud's phenomenon, as well as assessment of scleroderma spectrum disorders. In systemic sclerosis capillary abnormalities appear and evolve in a clearly defined sequence called the scleroderma pattern, which correlates with internal organ involvement...

BACKGROUND: Ganoderma lucidum (Lingzhi; LZ) and San-Miao-San (SMS) are Chinese medicines (CMs) used to treat inflammatory ailments and numbing syndrome/arthralgia syndrome (Bi Zheng), respectively. Given that the main symptoms of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) include inflammation of the joints, joint pain, edema and palpitations of the heart because of problems associated with Bi Zheng, it was envisaged that LZ and SMS could be used as potential treatments for this autoimmune disease...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the beneficial effect of antimalarial treatment on lupus survival in a large, multiethnic, international longitudinal inception cohort. METHODS: Socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, clinical manifestations, classification criteria, laboratory findings, and treatment variables were examined in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) from the Grupo Latino Americano de Estudio del Lupus Eritematoso (GLADEL) cohort. The diagnosis of SLE, according to the American College of Rheumatology criteria, was assessed within 2 years of cohort entry...

OBJECTIVE: Chronic fatigue is a common, disabling and poorly understood phenomenon. Recent studies indicate that epigenetic mechanisms may be involved in the expression of fatigue, a prominent feature of primary SS (pSS). The aim of this study was to investigate whether DNA methylation profiles of whole blood are associated with fatigue in patients with pSS. METHODS: Forty-eight pSS patients with high (n = 24) or low (n = 24) fatigue as measured by a visual analogue scale were included...

OBJECTIVE: To report the efficacy and safety of long-term treatment of SS with belimumab, targeting the B-cell-activating factor. METHODS: Patients with primary SS were included in the BELISS open-label phase II study, a 1-year open-label trial, if they were positive for anti-SSA or anti-SSB antibodies and had systemic complications or persistent salivary gland enlargement or early disease or biomarkers of B-cell activation. They received belimumab, 10 mg/kg i.v...

INTRODUCTION: Risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) is increased in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) compared with the general population. Traditional risk factors cannot account for the totality of CV events and adequate prevention may be challenging. AREAS COVERED: This review summarizes traditional and emerging risk factors of CVD in SLE patients and goes over potential pathogenic mechanisms involved in CVD development. Role of commonly used drugs and preventive strategies exploitable in everyday clinical practice are also discussed...

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of sildenafil, a phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor, on digital ulcer (DU) healing in systemic sclerosis (SSc). METHODS: Randomised, placebo-controlled study in patients with SSc to assess the effect of sildenafil 20 mg or placebo, three times daily for 12 weeks, on ischaemic DU healing. The primary end point was the time to healing for each DU. Time to healing was compared between groups using Cox models for clustered data (two-sided tests, p=0...

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a complex autoimmune disease in which immune activation, vasculopathy, and extensive fibrosis of the skin and internal organs are among the principal features. SSc is a heterogeneous disease with varying manifestations and clinical outcomes. Currently, patients' clinical evaluation often relies on subjective measures, non-quantitative methods, or requires invasive procedures as markers able to predict disease trajectory or response to therapy are lacking. Therefore, current research is focusing on the discovery of useful biomarkers reflecting ongoing inflammatory or fibrotic activity in the skin and internal organs, as well as being predictive of future disease course...