Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a heterogeneous autoimmune disease characterized by severe organ damage and lacking curative treatment. While various immune cell types, especially dysfunctional B and T cells and neutrophils, have been related with disease pathogenesis, limited research has focused on the role of monocytes in SLE. Increased DNA extracellular traps, apoptosis and necrosis have been related to lupus pathogenesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Early diagnosis and treatment of Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and Systemic sclerosis (SSc) present significant challenges for clinicians. Although various studies have observed changes in serum levels of selectins between healthy donors and patients with autoimmune diseases, including SLE and SSc, their potential as biomarkers has not been thoroughly explored. We aimed to investigate serum profiles of PSGL-1 (sPSGL-1), ADAM8 (sADAM8) and P-, E- and L-selectins (sP-, sE- and sL-selectins) in defined SLE and SSc patient cohorts to identify disease-associated molecular patterns.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSystemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease characterized by the generation of anti-DNA autoantibodies due to exposure of immune cells to excessive amounts of extracellular DNA. Lack of P-selectin in mice induces the development of a lupus-like syndrome and patients with cutaneous lupus have reduced P-selectin expression in skin vessels. Using flow cytometry we analyzed in healthy donors and patients the expression of P-selectin Glycoprotein Ligand-1 (PSGL-1) in circulating neutrophils and the implication of PSGL-1/P-selectin interaction in neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) generation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Cogan's syndrome (CS) is an inflammatory disease classified as variable vessel vasculitis. It is a rare disease with few published series, and therefore we reviewed our experience in the last ten years in two centres.
Materials And Methods: Description of 7 diagnosed cases of CS, according to the classification criteria (typical or atypical), their clinical manifestations, treatments used and their complications.
The present study was undertaken to assess mortality, causes of death, and associated prognostic factors in a large cohort of patients diagnosed with idiopathic inflammatory myositis (IIM) from Spain. A retrospective longitudinal study was carried out in 467 consecutive patients with IIM, identified from 12 medical centers. Patients were classified as primary polymyositis, primary dermatomyositis (DM), overlap myositis, cancer-associated myositis (CAM), and juvenile idiopathic inflammatory myopathies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFResponse to treatment of rheumatoid arthritis shows large inter-individual variability. This heterogeneity is observed with all the anti-rheumatic drugs, including the commonly used TNF inhibitors. It seems that drug-specific and target-specific factors lead individual patients to respond or not to a given drug, although this point has been challenged.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Interleukin-15 (IL-15) is thought to be involved in the physiopathological mechanisms of RA and it can be detected in the serum and the synovial fluid of inflamed joints in patients with RA but not in patients with osteoarthritis or other inflammatory joint diseases. Therefore, the objective of this work is to analyse whether serum IL-15 (sIL-15) levels serve as a biomarker of disease severity in patients with early arthritis (EA).
Methodology And Results: Data from 190 patients in an EA register were analysed (77.
Objective: To analyze the effect of the TNF blocking agents (aTNF) on the serum levels of interleukin 15 (IL-15). To determine whether baseline IL15 serum levels or their response to aTNF therapy can predict the clinical response to this treatment.
Patients And Method: We studied 75 patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis that were selected to start aTNF therapy.
Aims: The objective of this study was to investigate whether baseline receptor activator for nuclear factor kappaB ligand (RANKL) and osteoprotegerin (OPG) serum (s) levels can predict the therapeutic response to TNF antagonists (a-TNF).
Methods: We studied 75 rheumatoid arthritis patients (81% female) with a longstanding refractory disease. The variables of disease activity, physical function and sRANKL and sOPG levels were determined before and after both 12-14 and 28-30 weeks of a-TNF therapy (65 adalimumab, 10 infliximab).