Functional modulation of expanded CD8+ synovial fluid T cells by NK cell receptor expression in HLA-B27-associated reactive arthritis.

The aim of this study was to determine whether NK cell receptor (NKR) expression could modulate cytotoxicity of oligoclonal CD8+ T cells present in the synovial fluid (SF) of HLA-B27-reactive arthritis (ReA) patients, especially in a TCRBV1 population shared among different patients and cytotoxic toward HLA-B27. A CD8+ T cell line, two TCRBV1 lines and clones were isolated from the SF of an HLA-B27+ ReA patient, and tested with mAb specific for Ig-like (KIR2DL1, KIR2DL2, KIR3DL1 and ILT2) and CD94 C-type lectin NKR. Transcripts for NKG2 subunits (NKG2A-2E) associated with CD94 were also evaluated.

A new HLA-B*27 allele (B*2719) identified in a Lebanese patient affected with ankylosing spondylitis.

Eighteen different HLA-B*27 alleles (B*2701-B2718) have so far been recognized by the WHO Nomenclature Committee for Factors of the HLA System. Frequency and disease association of these alleles with spondyloarthropathies differ among ethnic groups. We describe here a novel HLA-B*27 subtype identified in a Lebanese patient suffering from ankylosing spondylitis (AS).

Interleukin 1 gene cluster polymorphisms in multiplex families with spondylarthropathies.

Interleukin 1alpha (IL-1alpha) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of infectious, auto-immune and inflammatory diseases. Polymorphisms in the genes encoding IL-1alpha, IL-1beta and the IL-1 receptor antagonist (ILRN) molecules have been associated with several inflammatory diseases. As the marker D2S160 has been characterized as a candidate locus for Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) after a genome-wide scan, and since this locus is located approximately 0.

Common intra-articular T cell expansions in patients with reactive arthritis: identical beta-chain junctional sequences and cytotoxicity toward HLA-B27.

Spondyloarthropathies constitute a group of autoimmune diseases of special interest because of their tight association with the MHC class I molecule HLA-B27 and the bacterial triggering of some clinical forms called reactive arthritis (ReA). One current hypothesis is the presentation by HLA-B27 of a so-called arthritogenic peptide to T cells. To better focus on the relevant T cell populations within the joint, we performed an extensive beta-chain T cell repertoire analysis of synovial fluid compared with PBL in seven patients, four of whom were characterized as having ReA triggered by Yersinia enterocolitica, Chlamydia trachomatis, or Shigella sonnei.

Appearance of systemic lupus erythematosus after thymectomy: four case reports and review of the literature.

The appearance of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) after thymectomy (or thymomectomy) is presented in four patients together with a comparative review of additional reports found in a Medline search for the years 1966-94 in the English and French literature. Fourteen women and two men of average age of 39 years (range 11-66 years) at presentation, developed SLE after thymectomy (11 patients) or thymomectomy (five patients). Half developed SLE within 3 years after surgery (range 3 months to 18 years).

Treatment of carrageenan induced arthritis by the platelet activating factor antagonist BN 50730.

Objective: To evaluate the role of platelet activating factor (PAF) in the early stage of arthritis.

Methods: Arthritis was induced in rabbits by weekly intra-articular injections of carrageenan. A PAF receptor antagonist, BN 50730, was used as a preventive or curative agent.

[Osteoarthritis of rare etiology].

Although osteoarthritis is characterized by a uniform pattern of clinical and radiological manifestations, it is a syndrome that can be produced by a variety of causative factors. Rare causes of osteoarthritis can be categorized as follows: 1) systemic metabolic disorders due to known biochemical and/or genetic abnormalities, such as hemochromatosis, ochronosis, Wilson's disease, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (and probably the "idiopathic" joint hypermobility syndrome), sickle cell anemia, and thalassemia; 2) endocrine disorders, such as acromegaly, whose joint manifestations are now well-known, and hypothyroidism; 3) Paget's disease of bone, osteopetrosis (which induces changes in bone elasticity), and other systemic bone diseases; 4) dysplasias, which form a vast group including familial polyepiphyseal dysplasia, spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita (especially its milder forms), Stickler's syndrome, osteo-onychodysplasia, Kniest's dysplasia, trichorhinopharyngeal syndrome, and a group of diseases that affect the epiphyses; 5) endemic forms of osteoarthritis, e.g.

Substance P levels in the synovium and synovial fluid from patients with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.

Experimental results suggest that substance P (SP) may play an important role in pain and inflammation in rheumatic diseases. Measurements of SP-like immunoreactivity (SPLI) were performed in synovial fluid (SF) and synovial tissue from 40 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or osteoarthritis (OA). High levels of SPLI were found in the SF of patients with RA compared with OA.

[Camptocormia in the elderly. A new entity by paravertebral muscle involvement?].

"Camptocormism" in the elderly is an acquired kyphosis which increases during walking and is totally reducible in dorsal horizontal position in two thirds of cases. The authors report 16 cases of camptocormism in patients with a mean age of 76 (12 women, 4 men). Camptocormism was accompanied in 5 cases by an extrapyramidal syndrome, in 3 cases by articular chondrocalcinosis, in 1 case by giant cell arteritis and in 1 by rheumatoid arthritis.

Presence of paf-acether in rheumatic diseases.

Paf-acether (paf) is a naturally occurring phospholipid involved in inflammatory processes. The presence of paf, its precursor lyso paf, and lipo-paf has been determined in blood and synovial fluid from 13 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 11 with spondylarthropathies, eight with other inflammatory rheumatisms, 13 with chondrocalcinosis, 15 with osteoarthritis, and also in blood from nine healthy subjects. Paf and lipo-paf were measured by rabbit platelet aggregation after isolation by high performance liquid chromatography, whereas lyso paf was first chemically acetylated to give paf.

[Treatment of rheumatoid polyarthritis with methotrexate].

This retrospective study involved 60 patients (7 men, 53 women) with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and given methotrexate between 1985 and 1990. The mean time that RA had been present was 12 years and more than half of the patients had received more than 3 types of general treatment in the past. The mean total duration of MTX was 17.

[Oligo-arthritis associated with type IV hyperlipoproteinemia].

A case of chronic, corticosteroid-responsive arthritis affecting particularly one ankle in a patient with type IV hyperlipoproteinaemia is reported. After gout or inflammatory rheumatism of another nature had been excluded, and following synovial fluid examination and synovial membrane biopsy, a diagnosis of type IV hyperlipoproteinaemia rheumatism was made. At electron microscopy, the synovial membrane showed numerous large spumous cells and a peculiar appearance of the capillary vessels.

[Multicentric reticulohistiocytosis. A case with unusual clinical, radiologic and ultrastructural aspects].

We are reporting a case of multicentric reticulo-histiocytosis which is exceptional because of its gravity and the diversity of the clinical lesions: huge subcutaneous nodules, bone destruction in the spine responsible for spondylolisthesis, pulmonary fibrosis, acute pericarditis, laryngeal compression requiring a permanent tracheostomy. From ultrastructural observations, various hypotheses to explain the intra-macrophagic accumulation of membrane granules and lipids are discussed.

[Chronic osteitis and arthritis of palmoplantar pustulosis. A familial form of B-27 negative spondylarthropathy].

A 35-year old woman presented with pustulosis palmaris et plantaris evolving in acute episodes parallel to those of a rheumatic disease consisting of bilateral sacro-iliac arthritis, manubriosternal fusion and sterno-clavicular arthritis. Her brother had spondylitis compatible with the diagnosis of pustular osteo-arthritis though without pustulosis. He presented with bilateral sacro-iliac arthritis, manubriosternal fusion, sterno-clavicular arthritis and an ossified fragment detached from the antero-inferior angle of C6.

[The rheumatism in type IIa hypercholesterolemia].

The authors report three cases of type IIa hypercholesterolemia in which ultrastructural observation of the synovial fluid revealed the presence of frothy cells and microcrystals. A questionnaire-based retrospective investigation amongst a population of 201 patients followed-up for type IIa essential hypercholesterolemia revealed the presence of joint disorders in 92 cases (45.8%).

Erythrocyte sedimentation rate of healthy subjects--chronological aspects.

Thanks to an elaborated mathematical approach, based on statistics and signal processing, the chronological changes of the Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) of young healthy subjects, considered from a collective point of view, have been discriminated into genuine and well-defined rhythms. These rhythms are tied up either to natural (year, season) or 'social' (month, week, holidays) cycles, or to some other causes, still unknown and possibly intrinsic (such is probably the case of a 26.5-day strongly marked period).

Frequency and diagnostic value of the virus-like filamentous intranuclear inclusions in giant cell tumor of bone, not associated with Paget's disease. A study of 43 cases.

This paper deals with the paramyxovirus-like intranuclear inclusions observed in giant cells tumours of bone (GCTB). Twenty-one (49%) of 43 cases of GCTB (1977-1985), either fresh and/or cultured, show these ultrastructural inclusions. Fifty samples of various bone lesions in which giant cell lesions occurred, including aneurysmal cysts, hyperparathyroidism, osteoblastoma, human and rat osteopetrosis, GCT of tendon sheaths, and non skeletal granuloma were used as controls.

Superoxide dismutases in polymorphonuclear leukocytes from patients with ankylosing spondylitis or rheumatoid arthritis.

The activity of cyanide-sensitive and cyanide-insensitive superoxide dismutase (CNs- and CNi-SOD) was measured in polymorphonuclear neutrophils isolated from the blood of patients with ankylosing spondylitis (A.S.) or adults with rheumatoid arthritis (R.

[Calcium oxalate microcrystalline arthropathy in primary oxalosis].

This paper dealt with the case of a 53 years old man, affected by a chronic renal failure as the initial symptom of a primary oxalosis and treated by hemodialysis three years ago. Two years after the onset of renal failure, the left knee was painful and swollen but no cartilage or bone joint lesion was observed. Presence of intra synovial calcium oxalate crystals suggests that this arthropathy may be related to the primary oxalosis.

[Radioguided puncture-infiltration in the treatment of refractory calcifying periarthritis of shoulders].

Trituration-aspiration-infiltration of calcifications of the shoulder region is a method applied for treatment of intractable calcifying periarthritis. A television screen is used to guide the needle until it is in contact with the calcifications provoking the symptoms. Trituration and aspiration of the calcified lesions is followed by saturation with prolonged released corticoids of 41 shoulders treated, recovery or improvement was noted in 70% after one month, results being rated as excellent in 19 patients followed up for 3 months.