Efficacy and safety of adalimumab for the treatment of peripheral arthritis in spondyloarthritis patients without ankylosing spondylitis or psoriatic arthritis.

Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of adalimumab in patients with peripheral spondyloarthritis (SpA) not fulfilling the criteria for ankylosing spondylitis (AS) or psoriatic arthritis (PsA).

Methods: 40 patients with active peripheral SpA fulfilling the European Spondyloarthropathy Study Group or Amor criteria but not the criteria for AS or PsA were included in a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Patients were treated 1 : 1 with adalimumab or placebo for 12 weeks, followed by an open label extension up to week 24.

The features of the synovium in early rheumatoid arthritis according to the 2010 ACR/EULAR classification criteria.

Objectives: It has been shown in early arthritis cohorts that the 2010 ACR/EULAR criteria for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) enable an earlier diagnosis, perhaps at the cost of a somewhat more heterogeneous patient population. We describe the features of synovial inflammation in RA patients classified according to these new criteria.

Methods: At baseline, synovial tissue biopsy samples were obtained from disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD)-naïve early RA patients (clinical signs and symptoms <1 year).

CD20 antigen imaging with ¹²⁴I-rituximab PET/CT in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Introduction: Visualization of the CD20-antigen expression could provide a tool to localize sites of inflammation and could be of additive value in the diagnosis, and subsequently, in the treatment follow-up of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. In this study, an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, rituximab (Mabthera®), was radiolabeled with ¹²⁴Iodine. We report the first results of I¹²⁴-rituximab PET/CT in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

The pharmacokinetics of ¹²⁴I-rituximab in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a destructive inflammatory joint disorder. Pre- and mature B-cells, characterized by CD20 antigen expression, play an important role in the inflammatory process. Rituximab, a chimeric monoclonal antibody against the CD20 antigen, has been approved since 2006 for the treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Modulation of CCR2 in rheumatoid arthritis: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

Objective: CCR2 is a chemokine receptor expressed by monocytes, macrophages, and a subset of T cells. Its ligand, CCL2 (monocyte chemotactic protein 1), is abundantly present in the synovium of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Blocking CCR2 prevents CCL2-mediated chemotaxis in vitro and modulates arthritis in animal models of RA.