Cigarette smoking and clinical response to certolizumab pegol treatment in Hungarian, Czech, and Slovak patients with rheumatoid arthritis: 104-week data from the CIMDORA prospective, non-interventional study.

Objectives: Smoking has been shown to influence rheumatoid arthritis (RA) severity and reduce response to some anti-tumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF) therapies. CIMDORA assessed the association between cigarette smoking and clinical effectiveness of certolizumab pegol (CZP) in Hungarian, Slovak, and Czech RA patients.

Methods: CIMDORA was a prospective, non-interventional, 104-week study (Feb 2011-Aug 2015).

The effect of balneotherapy on antioxidant, inflammatory, and metabolic indices in patients with cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension and obesity)--a randomised, controlled, follow-up study.

Introduction: The primary objective of our study was to explore the changes of antioxidant, inflammatory, and metabolic parameters in obese and hypertension people patients during balneotherapy and to evaluate the safety of balneotherapy in these participants.

Methods: Following randomisation, 22 obese and 20 hypertensive patients underwent balneotherapy with thermal water of 38°C temperature, in 15 sessions of 30 minutes. An additional 22 obese and 20 hypertensive patients served as controls.

Central role of nitric oxide in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus.

Nitric oxide (NO) has been shown to regulate T cell functions under physiological conditions, but overproduction of NO may contribute to T lymphocyte dysfunction. NO-dependent tissue injury has been implicated in a variety of rheumatic diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Several studies reported increased endogenous NO synthesis in both SLE and RA, and recent evidence suggests that NO contributes to T cell dysfunction in both autoimmune diseases.

The effect of balneotherapy on C-reactive protein, serum cholesterol, triglyceride, total antioxidant status and HSP-60 levels.

An increasing body of evidence substantiating the effectiveness of balneotherapy has accumulated during recent decades. In the present study, 42 ambulatory patients (23 males and 19 females, mean age 59.5 years) with degenerative musculoskeletal disease were randomised into one of two groups-bathing in tap water or in mineral water at the same temperature-and subjected to 30-min balneotherapy sessions on 15 occasions.

Natural autoantibodies reactive with glycosaminoglycans in rheumatoid arthritis.

Introduction: Although natural autoantibodies make up the majority of circulating immunoglobulins and are also present in high numbers in therapeutically used intravenous immunoglobulin preparations, they have received little attention and their precise role remains largely unknown. An increasing awareness of the importance of posttranslational autoantigen modifications and glycobiology led us to explore carbohydrate-reactive natural autoantibodies in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. This study examined systematic antibodies reactive to glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), the carbohydrate components of proteoglycans that are released in large amounts from degrading cartilage.

Molecular mimicry and immunomodulation by the HRES-1 endogenous retrovirus in SLE.

Genetic and environmental factors are believed to influence development of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Endogenous retroviruses (ERV) correspond to the integrated proviral form of infectious retroviruses, which are trapped within the genome due to mutations. ERV represent a key molecular link between the host genome and infectious viral particles.

Nitric oxide production of T lymphocytes is increased in rheumatoid arthritis.

Experimental and clinical evidence for T cell involvement in the pathology of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is compelling, and points to a local dysregulation of T cell function in the inflamed joint. Nitric oxide (NO) has been shown to regulate T cell function under physiological conditions, but overproduction of NO may contribute to lymphocyte dysfunction characteristic of RA. Several investigations in patients with RA have documented evidence of increased NO synthesis, but these studies have focused largely on macrophage-derived NO and its impact on innate immune and inflammatory responses.

Nitric oxide mediates T cell cytokine production and signal transduction in histidine decarboxylase knockout mice.

Histamine is a key regulator of the immune system. Several lines of evidence suggest the role of histamine in T cell activation and accelerated Th1 immune response is a hallmark of histidine decarboxylase knockout (HDC-KO) mice, with a complete lack of endogenously produced histamine. According to our previous work, T lymphocytes produce NO upon activation, and NO is necessary for effective T cell activation.

Nitric oxide, mitochondrial hyperpolarization, and T cell activation.

T lymphocyte activation is associated with nitric oxide (NO) production, which plays an essential role in multiple T cell functions. NO acts as a messenger, activating soluble guanyl cyclase and participating in the transduction signaling pathways involving cyclic GMP. NO modulates mitochondrial events that are involved in apoptosis and regulates mitochondrial membrane potential and mitochondrial biogenesis in many cell types, including lymphocytes.

Regulation of CD4 expression via recycling by HRES-1/RAB4 controls susceptibility to HIV infection.

A novel 2986-base transcript encoded by the antisense strand of the HRES-1 human endogenous retrovirus was isolated from peripheral blood lymphocytes. This transcript codes for a 218-amino acid protein, termed HRES-1/Rab4, based on homology to the Rab4 family of small GTPases. Antibody 13407 raised against recombinant HRES-1/Rab4 detected a native protein of identical molecular weight in human T cells.

[Signal transduction abnormalities in systemic lupus erythematosus].

Engagement of T cell receptors by antigen-presenting cells or stimulation by cytokines determine whether the cell will become activated, anergic or die via apoptosis or necrosis. Ca2+ is a key second messenger that delivers signal from the cell surface, reactive oxygen intermediates and nitric oxide are recently recognized as important mediators of T cell activation. Nitric oxide is a multifunctional intracellular and intercellular messenger induces mitochondrial biogenesis in many cell types, such as lymphocytes.

T- and B-cell abnormalities in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a complex autoimmune disease characterized by the production of antinuclear autoantibodies and clinical involvement in multiple organ systems. T cells from patients with SLE have been shown to be activated in vivo and provide help to autoreactive B cells. Abnormal expression of key signaling molecules, defective signal transduction pathways, and permanent mitochondrial dysfunction--associated with a significantly increased mitochondrial mass--appear to be the axis of T-lymphocyte dysfunction.

Increased prevalence of transfusion-transmitted virus and cross-reactivity with immunodominant epitopes of the HRES-1/p28 endogenous retroviral autoantigen in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Objective: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients produce autoantibodies to HRES-1/p28, a human endogenous retrovirus-encoded nuclear protein. To identify cross-reactive viral antigens capable of triggering autoreactivity, HRES-1/p28 epitopes were mapped by SLE antibodies.

Methods: Forty-four peptides overlapping HRES-1/p28 and 13 viral peptides were synthesized on cellulose membrane and tested for recognition by antibodies from 16 HRES-1 Western blot seropositive SLE patients.

Mitochondrial hyperpolarization: a checkpoint of T-cell life, death and autoimmunity.

T-cell activation, proliferation and selection of the cell death pathway depend on the production of reactive oxygen intermediates (ROIs) and ATP synthesis, which are tightly regulated by the mitochondrial transmembrane potential (ΔΨ). Mitochondrial hyperpolarization (MHP) and ATP depletion represent early and reversible steps in T-cell activation and apoptosis. By contrast, T cells of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) exhibit persistent MHP, cytoplasmic alkalinization, increased ROI production and depleted ATP, which mediate enhanced spontaneous and diminished activation-induced apoptosis and sensitize lupus T cells to necrosis.

T cell activation-induced mitochondrial hyperpolarization is mediated by Ca2+- and redox-dependent production of nitric oxide.

Activation, proliferation, or programmed cell death of T lymphocytes is regulated by the mitochondrial transmembrane potential (Deltapsi(m)) through controlling ATP synthesis, production of reactive oxygen intermediates (ROI), and release of cell death-inducing factors. Elevation of Deltapsi(m) or mitochondrial hyperpolarization is an early and reversible event associated with both T cell activation and apoptosis. In the present study, T cell activation signals leading to mitochondrial hyperpolarization were investigated.