Discovery of T Cell Receptor β Motifs Specific to HLA-B27-Positive Ankylosing Spondylitis by Deep Repertoire Sequence Analysis.

Objective: Ankylosing spondylitis (AS), a chronic inflammatory disorder, has a notable association with HLA-B27. One hypothesis suggests that a common antigen that binds to HLA-B27 is important for AS disease pathogenesis. This study was undertaken to determine sequences and motifs that are shared among HLA-B27-positive AS patients, using T cell repertoire next-generation sequencing.

Changes in novel biomarkers of disease activity in juvenile and adult dermatomyositis are sensitive biomarkers of disease course.

Objective: Muscle enzyme levels are insensitive markers of disease activity in juvenile and adult dermatomyositis (DM), especially during the active treatment phase. To improve our ability to monitor DM disease activity longitudinally, especially in the presence of immunomodulating agents, we prospectively evaluated whether interferon (IFN)-dependent peripheral blood gene and chemokine signatures could serve as sensitive and responsive biomarkers for change in disease activity in adult and juvenile DM.

Methods: Peripheral blood and clinical data were collected from 51 patients with juvenile or adult DM prospectively over 2 study visits.