Evaluation of Th9 lymphocytes in peripheral blood of rheumatoid arthritis patients and correlation with anti-tumor necrosis factor therapy: results from an in vitro pivotal study.

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of T helper 9 (Th9) lymphocytes in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and to identify a possible association between the percentage of Th9 and the discontinuation of a biological treatment with an anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) (infliximab). We collected peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 55 consecutive RA outpatients and 10 healthy controls. Among RA patients, 15 were not receiving any immunosuppressive drug, 20 were successfully treated with infliximab and 20 discontinued infliximab because of adverse events or inefficacy and were treated with other biological agents.

Anti-polymer antibodies are correlated with pain and fatigue severity in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome.

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of antipolymer antibody (APA) in patients with fibromyalgia (FM) and to examine its association with FM severity symptoms.

Methods: The study population consisted of 79 FM patients and 75 controls: 32 with psoriatic arthritis and 43 with rheumatoid arthritis APA levels were indirectly assayed using a commercial ELISA kit from Corgenix (Westmister, Colorado, USA). Optical density (OD) values were recorded on duplicates of each of the reference and patient samples.

Adalimumab clinical efficacy is associated with rheumatoid factor and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody titer reduction: a one-year prospective study.

Studies on autoantibody production in patients treated with tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) inhibitors reported contradictory results. We investigated in a prospective study the efficacy of a treatment with human monoclonal anti-TNF-alpha antibody (adalimumab) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and we evaluated the relationship between treatment efficacy and the incidence and titers of disease-associated and non-organ-specific autoantibodies. Fifty-seven patients with RA not responsive to methotrexate and treated with adalimumab were enrolled.

Oral type II collagen in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. A six-month double blind placebo-controlled study.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of oral chicken type II collagen (CII) in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: Sixty patients with clinically active RA of long duration (mean 7.2 +/- 5.

Prevention of appearance of radiological lesions in early rheumatoid arthritis: a randomized, single-blind study comparing intra-articular rifamycin with auranofin.

In a prospective, randomized, single-blind study of 116 patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (mean disease duration 7 months), therapeutic activity of intra-articular rifamycin SV (525 mg/week) infiltration into each peripheral joint over 10 weeks was compared with that of 3 mg auranofin given orally twice daily. The incidence of side-effects was lower in rifamycin-treated patients. At the end of follow-up, the clinical variables and erythrocyte sedimentation rate showed a significant and persistent improvement both in 16 patients who continued the auranofin treatment regularly and in 55 treated with rifamycin who had completed the therapeutic cycle 62.

Multiple intra-articular treatment of rheumatoid arthritis: a randomized prospective study comparing rifamycin SV with pefloxacin.

In a randomized, prospective study the efficacy and tolerability of extensive multiple intra-articular administrations of two antibiotics, rifamycin SV and pefloxacin, were evaluated in 40 patients with classical or definite rheumatoid arthritis. Total weekly doses of 525 mg rifamycin or 560 mg pefloxacin were given for 10 weeks, and 12 months after treatment all clinical indices, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein improved significantly in the rifamycin group. Some of the treatment indices (morning stiffness, severity of pain by visual analogue scale, grip strength and Ritchie's index) were already improved when the treatment ended, whereas others (erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, number of painful and swollen joints) improved progressively during the follow-up.