Flemish network on rare connective tissue diseases (CTD): patient pathways in systemic sclerosis. First steps taken.

Despite the low prevalence of each rare disease, the total burden is high. Patients with rare diseases encounter numerous barriers, including delayed diagnosis and limited access to high-quality treatments. In order to tackle these challenges, the European Commission launched the European Reference Networks (ERNs), cross-border networks of healthcare providers and patients representatives.

A case of anti-HMGCR myopathy in a patient with breast cancer and anti-Th/To antibodies.

Statins competitively inhibit the activity of HMGCR (3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase), which is a key enzyme in cholesterol synthesis. These are effective drugs for the management of cardiovascular disease and are generally well tolerated but several side effects have been reported. Muscular adverse symptoms are various and, rarely, statin exposure may lead to authentic immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy (IMNM), namely anti-HMGCR myopathy.

Hematogenous septic arthritis of a non-prosthetic shoulder caused by : A case report and review of the literature.

, oral inhabitants of dogs and cats is a cause of zoonotic infections. It is transmitted to humans by bites, scratches, licks, or close exposure to these animals. Infections due to have a wide range of severity and can sometimes be fatal.

A case of left foot drop as initial symptom of granulomatosis with polyangiitis: Triggered by COVID-19 disease?

In Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), involvement of the peripheral nervous system is frequent but its occurrence as an initial presentation is unusual. This case highlights the importance of this occurrence to permit an early diagnosis. Moreover, GPA started after a coronavirus disease 2019 infection and could have been induced by this.

Standardized nailfold capillaroscopy in children with rheumatic diseases: a worldwide study.

Objectives: To standardly assess and describe nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC) assessment in children and adolescents with juvenile rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (jRMD) vs healthy controls (HCs).

Material And Methods: In consecutive jRMD children and matched HCs from 13 centres worldwide, 16 NVC images per patient were acquired locally and read centrally per international consensus standard evaluation of the EULAR Study Group on Microcirculation in Rheumatic Diseases. A total of 95 patients with JIA, 22 with JDM, 20 with childhood-onset SLE (cSLE), 13 with juvenile SSc (jSSc), 21 with localized scleroderma (lSc), 18 with MCTD and 20 with primary RP (PRP) were included.

Tapering of Etanercept is feasible in patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis in sustained remission: a pragmatic randomized controlled trial.

Objective: In patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in sustained remission, tapering of biological disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs can be considered. Tapering has already been investigated, but its feasibility remains to be determined. Therefore, we explored the feasibility of tapering etanercept in RA in a setting close to practice.

A Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Study to Define Alarmins and A-SAA Variants as Companion Markers in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Nowadays, in the study of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), more and more interest is directed towards an earlier effective therapeutic intervention and the determination of companion markers for predicting response to therapy with the goal to prevent progressive joint damage, deformities, and functional disability. With the present work, we aimed at quantifying in a cohort of early RA (ERA) patients naïve to DMARD therapy, proteins whose increase was previously found associated with RA: serum amyloid A (A-SAA) and alarmins. Five A-SAA variants (SAA1α, SAA1β, SAA1γ, SAA2α, and SAA2β) but also S100A8 and S100A9 proteins were simultaneously quantified in plasma applying a method based on single targeted bottom-up proteomics LC-MS/MS.

Serum calprotectin (S100A8/A9): a promising biomarker in diagnosis and follow-up in different subgroups of juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

Introduction: In the management of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), there is a lack of diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. This study assesses the use of serum calprotectin (sCal) as a marker to monitor disease activity, and as a classification and prognosis tool of response to treatment or risk of flares in patients with JIA.

Methods: Eighty-one patients with JIA from the CAP48 multicentric cohort were included in this study, as well as 11 non-paediatric healthy controls.

Antibodies against carbamylated proteins: prevalence and associated disease characteristics in Belgian patients with rheumatoid arthritis or other rheumatic diseases.

: Anti-carbamylated protein antibodies (anti-CarP) are reported to be associated with increased disease activity and with more severe joint damage in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. The present study investigated the presence of anti-CarP in various rheumatic diseases, and their specific clinical significance in RA, in Belgian rheumatology patients.: We tested sera from 254 RA patients, 56 healthy controls, and 153 patients with different rheumatic conditions: juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), axial spondyloarthritis, systemic sclerosis, and Sjögren's syndrome (SS).

The importance of skin manifestations, serology and nailfold (video)capillaroscopy in morphea and systemic sclerosis: current understanding and new insights.

Since the field around morphea and systemic sclerosis (SSc) is evolving rapidly, this review approaches conventional as well as more recent clinical developments from a dermatological point of view. Skin manifestations are critical in sub-classifying these diseases ensuring a correct prognosis for these patients. They can be discretely present, and therefore, diagnosis can be challenging sometimes, implicating a thorough dermatological examination is mandatory.

Association Between Nursing Support Levels and Effectiveness of Golimumab in the Management of Patients with Rheumatologic Diseases.

Introduction: The main objective of this study was to assess the level of nursing support received by biologic-naïve rheumatological patients treated with golimumab during their first cycle.

Methods: Adult patients (N = 119; aged 46.9 ± 13.

Glycosylation deficiency of lipopolysaccharide-binding protein and corticosteroid-binding globulin associated with activity and response to treatment for rheumatoid arthritis.

Background: Serum protein glycosylation is an area of investigation in inflammatory arthritic disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Indeed, some studies highlighted abnormalities of protein glycosylation in RA. Considering the numerous types of enzymes, monosaccharides and glycosidic linkages, glycosylation is one of the most complex post translational modifications.

Two years follow-up of an open-label pilot study of treatment with rituximab in patients with early diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis.

Objectives: Following results in open-label studies of rituximab in patients with systemic sclerosis, a Belgian three-centre initiative was launched to explore safety and efficacy of rituximab in early, diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (dcSSc).

Methods: Open-label study of 17 patients with early dcSSc, treated with two courses of rituximab, at month 0 and 6. Clinical examination, lung function testing, echocardiography, disease activity score (DAS) and functional status were performed at baseline and over 24 months of follow-up.

Imaging of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis.

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis is an umbrella term covering several distinct categories that share common features. The European League Against Rheumatism and the Pediatric Rheumatology European Society have published a consensus article with recommendations to guide radiologists and clinicians in choosing the best imaging technique for each particular clinical setting. A reproducible, accurate, validated, and long-established scoring system to use in everyday practice for monitoring and predicting long-term response to therapy is still to be developed on MR imaging for each joint.

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS): An unrecognized paradoxical effect of biologic agents (BA) used in chronic inflammatory diseases.

Background: Paradoxical hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) induced by biologic agents (BA) is scarcely reported.

Objective: We sought to describe the clinical characteristics and outcome of patients developing paradoxical HS under BA.

Methods: This was a multicenter nationwide retrospective study asking physicians to report all cases of HS, confirmed by a dermatologist, occurring during treatment of an inflammatory disease by a BA.

Higher expression of TNFα-induced genes in the synovium of patients with early rheumatoid arthritis correlates with disease activity, and predicts absence of response to first line therapy.

Background: IL6-related T cell activation and TNFα-dependent cell proliferation are major targets of therapy in the RA synovium. We investigated whether expression of these pathways in RA synovial biopsies is associated with disease activity and response to therapy.

Method: Correlation and gene set enrichment studies were performed using gene expression profiles from RA synovial biopsies.

[The new classification criteria for spondylarthritis: implications in clinical practice].

" Spondyloarthritis" consists of a group of several diseases sharing clinical, radiological and genetic similarities. Ankylosing spondylitis is the main representative of this group and is characterized by a predominant axial involvement. The presence of radiographic sacroiliitis is essential for the diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis according to the modified New York criteria.

[Early diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis].

Rheumatoid arthritis is the most common chronic inflammatory rheumatic disorder, and is characterized by inflammation of the joint, which can lead to irreversible bone damage, joint deformity and disability, if not diagnosed timely or treated adequately. New classification criteria were developed in 2010 in order to identify patients at risk of developing persistent or erosive arthritis, and requiring early therapy. In order to detect early arthritis or bone erosions before their appearance on X-rays, ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging are now routinely used by clinicians, and also seem to deliver prognostic information about the disease.

sIL7R concentrations in the serum reflect disease activity in the lupus kidney.

Objectives: Evaluation of disease activity in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) nephritis is a challenge, and repeated renal biopsies are usually needed in order to confirm a suspicion of flare. In a previous cross-sectional study, we reported that serum soluble form of the interleukin-7 receptor (sIL7R) levels is strongly associated with nephritis in SLE patients. In the present study, we wanted to confirm the association between changes in serum sIL7R concentrations and renal disease activity in a large longitudinal cohort of SLE nephritis patients.

Serum soluble interleukin 7 receptor is strongly associated with lupus nephritis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Background: The soluble form of the interleukin 7 receptor (sIL-7R) is produced by fibroblasts after stimulation with proinflammatory cytokines. Increased sIL-7R serum and synovial fluid levels were recently demonstrated in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Objectives: To investigate whether sIL-7R production is dysregulated in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and whether this correlates with disease activity.

Anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies: a comparison of different assays for the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis.

Objectives: Anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibodies are highly specific markers of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Considering the heterogeneity of the target antigens involved, and the test platforms and conjugates proposed in commercial anti-CCP assays, we assessed the diagnostic performances of four fully automated anti-CCP assays in a cohort of patients with RA compared to patients with other autoimmune and inflammatory disorders. We also evaluated the agreement between the qualitative results of these immunoassays.