Predictive factors of effective tibial nerve release in tarsal tunnel syndrome.

Background: Factors that may affect surgical decompression results in tarsal tunnel syndrome are not known.

Methods: A retrospective single-center study included patients who had undergone surgical tibial nerve release. The effectiveness of decompression was evaluated according to whether the patient would or would not be willing to undergo another surgical procedure in similar preoperative circumstances.

Prealbumin, platelet factor 4 and S100A12 combination at baseline predicts good response to TNF alpha inhibitors in rheumatoid arthritis.

Objectives: Tumour necrosis factor-alpha inhibitors (TNFi) are effective treatments for Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). Responses to treatment are barely predictable. As these treatments are costly and may induce a number of side effects, we aimed at identifying a panel of protein biomarkers that could be used to predict clinical response to TNFi for RA patients.

Variants of genes implicated in type 1 interferon pathway and B-cell activation modulate the EULAR response to rituximab at 24 weeks in rheumatoid arthritis.

Background: The type 1 interferon (IFN) pathway has been identified to potentially affect the response to rituximab (RTX) for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which suggests the contribution of type 1 IFN pathway genes such as IFN regulatory factor 5 and 7 ( and ), tyrosine kinase 2 (), signal transducer and activator of transcription 4 () and osteopontin (). Our objective was to study functional variants of these IFN pathway genes as predictors of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) response to RTX for RA at week 24 (W24).

Methods: Logistic regression analysis with a stepwise multivariate model adjusted for sex, age and DAS28-CRP (Disease Activity Score in 28 joints with C reactive protein) in 115 patients from the SMART randomised studywas used to analyse the association between the candidate variants and W24 EULAR response.

Isolated positive anti-SS-B autoantibodies are not related to clinical features of systemic autoimmune diseases: Results from a routine population survey.

Objective: To assess in clinical practice the frequency and diagnosis associated with the SS-B-positive/SS-A negative autoantibody profile.

Methods: We analyzed a one-year consecutive population of 624 patients referred by clinicians to the immunology laboratory to investigate anti-SS-A and/or anti-SS-B autoantibodies, who were detected using luminex technology. Data were analyzed for patients with isolated anti-SS-B autoantibodies.

A bicentre retrospective study of features and outcomes of patients with reactive arthritis.

Objective: Reactive arthritis (ReA) is a sterile arthritis following an extra-articular infection, usually of the gastrointestinal or genitourinary tract. The aim of this study was to assess the incidence and the clinical and therapeutic characteristics of ReA and to compare them with those of a historical cohort. We hypothesised that improved hygiene together with prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections may have decreased the incidence of ReA.

Factors influencing the use of tocilizumab as monotherapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in a real-life setting: results at 1 year of the ACT-SOLO study.

Introduction: Using a biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (bDMARD) as monotherapy in clinical practice for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is common and recognised by health authorities although current guidelines recommend to combine them with conventional synthetic (cs)DMARDs. This study mainly aimed to search for real-life factors influencing the use of tocilizumab as MONO or in combination (COMBO).

Methods: In this non-interventional, prospective, national, multicentre study, data were collected every 3 months over a 12-month period in RA patients starting tocilizumab.

Fibromyalgia in Spondyloarthritis: Effect on Disease Activity Assessment in Clinical Practice.

Objective: Spondyloarthritis (SpA) is the second most frequent inflammatory rheumatic disease, characterized by spinal involvement, peripheral arthritis, or enthesitis with marked pain, stiffness, and fatigue. Fibromyalgia (FM) may be associated with SpA, and shares some common symptoms. We aimed to determine how FM influences assessment of SpA disease activity, which is mainly dependent on patient-based outcome measures such as the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) or the Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Score (ASDAS).

Variations in the metabolome in response to disease activity of rheumatoid arthritis.

Background: Anti-Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) therapies are able to control rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity and limit structural damage. Yet no predictive factor of response to anti-TNF has been identified. Metabolomic profile is known to vary in response to different inflammatory rheumatisms so determining it could substantially improve diagnosis and, consequently, prognosis.

Atypical focal forms of Whipple's disease seen by rheumatologists.

We report two atypical cases of focal Whipple's disease with rheumatic presenting symptoms. In one of these cases, the patient presented with chronic intermittent polyarthritis, systemic inflammation, and leukocytosis. Tests were positive for rheumatoid factor and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies.

Use of whole-blood transcriptomic profiling to highlight several pathophysiologic pathways associated with response to rituximab in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: data from a randomized, controlled, open-label trial.

Objective: To identify a molecular signature that could be predictive of the clinical response to rituximab (RTX) and elucidate the transcriptomic changes after RTX therapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), with the use of whole-blood transcriptomic profiling.

Methods: A microarray assay of the whole human genome was performed using RNA from peripheral blood samples obtained before the first cycle of RTX from 68 patients with RA in the SMART study. The transcriptomic profile was also assessed 24 weeks after the first administration of RTX (among 24 nonresponders and 44 responders, according to the European League Against Rheumatism response criteria at week 24).

CCL19, a B cell chemokine, is related to the decrease of blood memory B cells and predicts the clinical response to rituximab in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: Migration of B cells from peripheral blood to the synovium in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may predict clinical response to rituximab (RTX). We undertook this study to investigate whether serum levels of chemokines involved in B cell trafficking are correlated with blood levels of memory B cells or serum levels of B cell activation biomarkers before B cell depletion and whether chemokine levels predict RTX responsiveness.

Methods: Blood B cell subsets were analyzed by flow cytometry (CD27, IgD), and serum B cell activation biomarkers (rheumatoid factor, anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide, free light chains, IgG, IgA, IgM, and BAFF) were measured in 208 RA patients and 70 control subjects.

Evaluation of low-dose rituximab for the retreatment of patients with active rheumatoid arthritis: a non-inferiority randomised controlled trial.

Background: The licensed dose of rituximab in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is two doses of 1000 mg given 2 weeks apart. A lower dose has never been specifically studied in patients with an inadequate response to anti-tumour necrosis factor (TNF) agents.

Objective: To compare the efficacy and safety of rituximab repeat treatment with two doses (1000 mg×1 and 1000 mg×2) following initial treatment with 1000 mg×2.

Association between -871C>T promoter polymorphism in the B-cell activating factor gene and the response to rituximab in rheumatoid arthritis patients.

Objective: To determine whether a functional single-nucleotide polymorphism in the B-cell activating factor (BAFF) gene correlates with the response to treatment with rituximab (RTX) in RA.

Methods: SMART is a randomized open trial (NCT01126541) assessing two strategies of re-treatment in patients responding to 1-g infusion of RTX with MTX on days 1 and 15 after failure, intolerance or contraindication to TNF blockers. Among the 224 patients included, 115 provided informed consent, could be genotyped and were included in an ancillary study of SMART assessing European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) response rate after the first course of RTX according to BAFF-871C>T polymorphism.

Blood memory B cells are disturbed and predict the response to rituximab in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: To examine blood B cell subsets in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) prior to B cell depletion therapy and to assess their potential as predictors of clinical response to rituximab (RTX).

Methods: Blood B cell subsets were assessed by flow cytometry in 208 RA patients included in an RTX retreatment study (assessed prior to RTX treatment) and in 47 age-matched controls. Expression of BAFF receptor (BAFF-R) on B cells and serum B cell biomarkers was also measured.

Comparison of the efficacy of sonography, magnetic resonance imaging and conventional radiography for the detection of bone erosions in rheumatoid arthritis patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: To evaluate the reproducibility of US and to compare its efficacy with that of MRI and conventional radiography (CR) for the detection of bone erosion in RA patients.

Methods: A systematic literature search was performed in the Medline, Embase and Cochrane databases up to August 2009. Trials evaluating the reproducibility of US for bone erosion detection or comparing the number of erosions detected by the three imaging methods at patient and/or joint level were included.

B cell activation biomarkers as predictive factors for the response to rituximab in rheumatoid arthritis: a six-month, national, multicenter, open-label study.

Objective: To examine whether serum B cell markers can predict response to rituximab, a B cell-depleting monoclonal antibody, in patients with refractory rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: This rituximab re-treatment dose study (SMART [eSsai MAbthera sur la dose de Re-Traitement]) involved 208 patients with refractory RA. Serum markers of B cell activation (anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide [anti-CCP] antibodies, rheumatoid factor [RF], serum IgG, IgA, and IgM levels, serum κ and λ free light chains, and serum BAFF) were assessed before the first rituximab cycle (1,000 mg on days 1 and 15).

Indications of glucocorticoids in early arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis: recommendations for clinical practice based on data from the literature and expert opinion.

Objective: To develop clinical practice guidelines about the indications of glucocorticoid therapy in early arthritis and established rheumatoid arthritis, based on previously published data and on the opinions of rheumatology experts.

Methods: We used a three-step procedure. (a) A scientific committee used a Delphi procedure to select three questions about glucocorticoid indications: what is the role for glucocorticoid therapy in early arthritis? What is the role for long-term glucocorticoid therapy in established rheumatoid arthritis? What is the role for systemic glucocorticoid therapy in flares of rheumatoid arthritis? (b) Evidence providing answers to the three questions was sought in Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane, and abstracts from the annual meetings of the ACR and EULAR.

Use of glucocorticoids in rheumatoid arthritis - pratical modalities of glucocorticoid therapy: recommendations for clinical practice based on data from the literature and expert opinion.

Objective: To develop recommendations about the use of glucocorticoids in patients with established rheumatoid arthritis (RA) managed in everyday practice, using the evidence-based approach and expert opinion.

Methods: A three-step procedure was used: a scientific committee used a Delphi procedure to select five questions, which formed the basis for developing the recommendations; a systematic literature review was conducted by searching the Medline and Embase databases and the abstracts of meetings held by the Société Française de Rhumatologie (SFR), American College of Rheumatology (ACR), and European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR); and recommendations were developed and validated by a panel of experts based on the data from the literature review and on their experience. For each recommendation, the level of evidence and extent of agreement among experts were determined.

Serious infections in patients with ankylosing spondylitis with and without TNF blockers: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised placebo-controlled trials.

Background: Tumour necrosis factor (TNF) blockers are known to increase the risk of serious infections in rheumatoid arthritis. Despite wide use of TNF blockers in ankylosing spondylitis (AS), the infection risk has never been evaluated in this disease.

Objectives: To assess serious infections in patients with AS not exposed and exposed to TNF blockers.

Masitinib in the treatment of active rheumatoid arthritis: results of a multicentre, open-label, dose-ranging, phase 2a study.

Introduction: Since current treatment options for patients suffering from active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) remain inadequate, especially for those unresponsive to disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), new and improved medication is needed. This study evaluates the safety and efficacy of masitinib (AB1010), a potent and selective protein tyrosine kinase inhibitor of c-KIT, in the monotherapy treatment of DMARD-refractory RA.

Methods: This was a multicentre, uncontrolled, open-label, randomised, dose-ranging, phase 2a trial.

Interleukin 17 acts in synergy with B cell-activating factor to influence B cell biology and the pathophysiology of systemic lupus erythematosus.

Studies have suggested involvement of interleukin 17 (IL-17) in autoimmune diseases, although its effect on B cell biology has not been clearly established. Here we demonstrate that IL-17 alone or in combination with B cell-activating factor controlled the survival and proliferation of human B cells and their differentiation into immunoglobulin-secreting cells. This effect was mediated mainly through the nuclear factor-kappaB-regulated transcription factor Twist-1.