Metabolomic signature identifies HDL and apolipoproteins as potential biomarker for systemic sclerosis with interstitial lung disease.

Background: High-density lipoproteins (HDL) affect endothelial functions such as the expression of endothelial cell adhesion molecules and exert anti-apoptotic/-thrombotic functionalities. Therefore, profound analysis of lipoproteins may unveil biomarkers for (micro-)vasculopathy in systemic sclerosis (SSc) and mortality determining disease manifestations like interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD). Because nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy provides a wide range of lipoprotein parameters beyond the capabilities of classical analyses it has been used herein to examine lipoprotein profiles in SSc.

[B symptoms in unexplained mediastinal lymphadenopathy : Case report of a 72-year-old male patient with VEXAS syndrome].

The case of a 72-year-old male patient who presented to our centre for rare diseases with recurrent fever, night sweats and weight loss with initially confirmed mediastinal lymphadenopathy is reported. Investigation of lymph node material was unrevealing. As an additional finding, the patient had a myelodysplastic syndrome.

[The unusual mimicker of a polymyositis].

This article describes a hantavirus-associated pronounced myositis as a rare differential diagnosis to polymyositis. The literature on the pathogenesis of hantavirus disease discusses less a direct viral cytopathology but more a secondary immune dysregulation with induction of a capillary leak. This article describes for the first time a case of successful treatment of protracted hantavirus myositis using high-dose glucocorticoids and cyclophosphamide, followed by ciclosporin and MTX.

[Mimetics of systemic sclerosis].

Background: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is characterized by heterogeneous clinical symptoms. Peripheral skin fibrosis can be a common symptom. Nevertheless, a variety of diseases with different etiologies are associated with a thickening of the skin and make the initial diagnosis of systemic sclerosis more difficult.