Anti-thyroid antibodies and thyroid dysfunction in rheumatoid arthritis: prevalence and clinical value.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess thyroid function as well as the prevalence and clinical value of anti-thyroid antibodies in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: Seventy patients with active RA (ACR criteria), 9 males and 61 females, mean age 47 years (range 15-77) were analyzed. Anti-thyroperoxidase (TPOAb) and anti-thyroglobulin antibodies (TgAb) were tested using radioimmunoassay.

Organ-specific autoantibodies in patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with adalimumab: a prospective long-term follow-up.

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is frequently associated with organ or non-organ-specific autoantibodies or overt autoimmune disorders. Aim of our study was to assess the prevalence and concentration of a panel of organ-specific autoantibodies in patients with RA and to evaluate their relationship with clinical manifestations and treatment efficacy.

Methods: Clinical and serological data from 20 patients with active RA (3M/17F), aged from 28 to 80 years and 50 healthy controls were analyzed.

Anti-polymer antibodies are correlated with pain and fatigue severity in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome.

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of antipolymer antibody (APA) in patients with fibromyalgia (FM) and to examine its association with FM severity symptoms.

Methods: The study population consisted of 79 FM patients and 75 controls: 32 with psoriatic arthritis and 43 with rheumatoid arthritis APA levels were indirectly assayed using a commercial ELISA kit from Corgenix (Westmister, Colorado, USA). Optical density (OD) values were recorded on duplicates of each of the reference and patient samples.

Treatment strategy in fibromyalgia syndrome: where are we now?

Introduction: The treatment of the fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is not standardized and often ineffective, and the course of disease progression is unpredictable.

Objectives: To highlight the efficacy of the pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic treatments administered to FMS patients.

Methods: Medline search for articles published between 1983 and 2007, using the keywords fibromyalgia, pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic treatment, and multidisciplinary modalities.

Potential target of infliximab in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

Tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine produced by many cell types (blood monocytes, macrophages, mast cells and endothelial cells), that play a key role in the pathogenesis of multiple autoimmune and nonautoimmune disorders. A number of large placebo-controlled trials have shown that infliximab, a chimeric monoclonal antibody against TNF-alpha, is effective and well tolerated in patients with Crohn's disease, rheumatoid arthritis and spondiloarthritides and has become a widely used treatment for these diseases. Preliminary data suggest that several forms of vasculitis appear responsive to TNF antagonists: Behçet's disease, Churg-Strauss vasculitis, polyarteritis nodosa, and giant cell arteritis, among others.

Adalimumab clinical efficacy is associated with rheumatoid factor and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody titer reduction: a one-year prospective study.

Studies on autoantibody production in patients treated with tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) inhibitors reported contradictory results. We investigated in a prospective study the efficacy of a treatment with human monoclonal anti-TNF-alpha antibody (adalimumab) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and we evaluated the relationship between treatment efficacy and the incidence and titers of disease-associated and non-organ-specific autoantibodies. Fifty-seven patients with RA not responsive to methotrexate and treated with adalimumab were enrolled.

Effect of adalimumab on neutrophil function in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Neutrophils are known to be targets for the biological activity of tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Therefore, these cells may be among the targets of anti-TNF-alpha therapy. In this study we evaluated the effect of therapy with adalimumab (a fully human anti-TNF-alpha mAb; dosage: 40 mg subcutaneously every other week) on certain phenotypic and functional aspects of neutrophils obtained from 10 selected patients with RA and 20 healthy control individuals.

Cyclic alternating pattern: a new marker of sleep alteration in patients with fibromyalgia?

Objective: In the dynamic organization of sleep, cyclic alternating pattern (CAP) expresses a condition of instability of the level of vigilance that manifests the brain's fatigue in preserving and regulating the macrostructure of sleep. We evaluated the presence of CAP in patients with fibromyalgia (FM) compared to healthy controls.

Methods: Forty-five patients with FM (42 women) were studied and compared with 38 healthy subjects (36 women) matched for age, sex, and body mass index.