Recent advances and insights into imaging of axial spondyloarthritis.

Imaging of the axial skeleton is a critical component of the diagnosis, management and follow-up of axial spondyloarthritis which may be difficult on clinical grounds and biological data alone. The sacroiliac joints (SIJ) are anatomically complex with high incidence of normal variation and degenerative change and techniques used to image the SIJ vary widely. Interpretation of MRI scans of the axial skeleton is facilitated by employing consistent protocols in which sequences are designed for the sensitive detection of inflammatory lesions, fat metaplasia and bone erosion.

The deubiquitylating enzyme Fat facets promotes Fat signalling and restricts tissue growth.

Tissue growth is regulated by many signals, including polarity cues. The Hippo signalling pathway restricts tissue growth and receives inputs from the planar cell polarity-controlling Fat signalling pathway. The atypical cadherin Fat restricts growth via several mechanisms that ultimately control the activity of the pro-growth transcriptional co-activator Yorkie.

The effect of ixekizumab treatment on MRI sacroiliac joint structural lesions in patients with radiographic axial spondyloarthritis: post-hoc analysis of a 52-week, randomised, placebo-controlled trial with an active reference arm.

Background: The effect of biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) on sacroiliac joint lesions over 52 weeks in biological DMARD-naive patients with radiographic axial spondyloarthritis is unknown. This post-hoc analysis evaluated the effect of ixekizumab and adalimumab versus placebo on structural lesions in sacroiliac joints assessed by MRI in patients naive to biological DMARDs with radiographic axial spondyloarthritis from the COAST-V study.

Methods: COAST-V was a phase 3, multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial with an active reference arm done over 52 weeks at 84 sites in 12 countries.

Impact of age on active and structural MRI lesions in sacroiliac joints of healthy individuals and non-specific back pain patients.

Objective: To assess the impact of increasing age on the frequency of inflammatory and structural MRI lesions in the sacroiliac joints (SIJ) in 3 independent cohorts of healthy individuals and non-specific back pain (NSBP) patients.

Methods: We assessed MRI SIJ lesions in 3 cohorts A/B/C of healthy individuals (cohorts A/B: n=79/78) and NSBP patients (cohorts A/C: n=87/46) aged ≤45 years referred with back pain suspicious of axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA). MRI lesions were recorded on consecutive slices in SIJ quadrants or halves through the cartilaginous SIJ.