Therapy and pharmacological properties of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine in treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis and related diseases.

Objectives: This review examines the pharmacokinetics, modes of action and therapeutic properties of the anti-malarial drugs, hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and chloroquine (CQ), in the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and related conditions, as well as osteoarthritis (OA).

Key Findings: Both HCQ and CQ have historically been employed successfully for the treatment of SLE and RA for over 70 years. HCQ has been used extensively for SLE where it has a good reputation for controlling the dermatological complications in SLE.

Pulmonary manifestations of primary Sjögren's syndrome.

Sjögren's syndrome (SS) is a systemic disease with a predilection for the exocrine glands. It also is considered to be an autoimmune epitheliitis, and, as the respiratory system is lined throughout with epithelial cells, it should not be surprising that patients who have SS may develop pulmonary disease. This article describes these manifestations.

The contribution of methotrexate exposure and host factors on transcriptional variance in human liver.

Long-term administration of methotrexate (MTX) for management of chronic inflammatory diseases is associated with risk of liver damage. In this study, we examined the transcriptional profiles of livers from patients treated with MTX. The possibility that expression signatures correlate with grade of fibrosis or underlying rheumatic disease was evaluated.

The use of antirheumatic disease drugs during pregnancy.

Many connective tissue diseases occur more frequently in women, the female:male ratio for systemic lupus erythematosus is 9:1 and for rheumatoid arthritis is 3:1. These diseases frequently afflict young women, many of whom wish to become mothers. While some diseases (for example, rheumatoid arthritis) generally improve during pregnancy, other immune-mediated diseases may be exacerbated by pregnancy, putting both the mother and fetus at risk and making control of maternal disease a top priority.