An open-label pilot study of the efficacy and safety of anakinra in patients with psoriatic arthritis refractory to or intolerant of methotrexate (MTX).

Only limited data have been published about the therapeutic use of anakinra in patients with psoriatic arthritis. We undertook this study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of anakinra in patients with active psoriatic arthritis. In a prospective open-label single-center study, 20 patients were treated with 100 mg anakinra everyday either alone or in combination with ongoing methotrexate over 6 months.

Association of rheumatoid arthritis with ergothioneine levels in red blood cells: a case control study.

Objective: The dietary thiol compound and erythrocyte ingredient ergothioneine (ET) is the preferential physiological substrate of the organic cation transporter OCTN1, found to be associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in genetic studies, but the biological roles of ET and OCTN1 are unclear. We investigated the association between ET concentrations in peripheral blood erythrocytes and the occurrence of RA.

Methods: Erythrocyte ET concentrations in patients with mildly active RA (n = 73) were compared to ET levels in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD; n = 62) and osteoarthritis (OA; n = 148), serving as non-RA chronic inflammatory disease controls.

Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada syndrome associated with cutaneous malignant melanoma: an 11-year follow-up.

Purpose: To report a case of Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) syndrome associated with cutaneous pigmented malignant melanoma (MM) and non-pigmented nodular metastasis after a 10-year recurrence-free interval.

Methods: Case report with long-term follow-up of 11 years. Ocular examinations included best-corrected visual acuity (ETDRS charts), fundus photography, fluorescein angiography, and computer-assisted perimetry.

[Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist anakinra (Kineret) for treatment of rheumatic arthritis].

New treatment strategies in rheumatoid arthritis are targeted to interfere with critical mediators of inflammation. Proinflammatory cytokines like IL-1 beta and TNFalpha play a crucial role in induction and maintenance of synovitis, pannus formation and bone and cartilage destruction. Within a few years, these morphological changes may lead to joint destruction and consecutively to functional impairment.

Lack of deleterious somatic mutations in the CD95 gene of plasmablasts from systemic lupus erythematosus patients and autoantibody-producing cell lines.

The interaction of CD95 with its ligand CD95L is important for negative selection of B cells during the germinal center (GC) reaction. Recently, mutations conferring resistance to CD95-induced apoptosis have been described for human GC B cells. Hence, as has been demonstrated for CD95-deficient mice, also GC-derived autoreactive B cells carrying somatic CD95 gene mutations may potentially service negative selection and participate in the development of autoimmune diseases.