Rationale: The mechanisms of action of MTX (methotrexate) in the treatment of RA (rheumatoid arthritis) and PsA (psoriatic arthritis) is related to its antifolic activity, due to the high affinity for enzymes that require folate cofactors as dihydrofolate reductase and to the anti-inflammatory activity derivated from the inhibition of thymidylate synthetase that leads to the over-production of adenosine.
Patient Concerns: Our patient was a 41-year-old female, affected by PsA in treatment since 2 years with low-dose methylprednisolone and low-dose subcutaneous MTX. The treatment was effective.
One of the author names on this article was incorrectly tagged during the article mark-up; Luca Dalle Carbonare's name has now been correctly tagged, with first name 'Luca' and last name 'Dalle Carbonare'.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe evaluated the efficacy and safety of intramuscular clodronate (CLO) for the treatment of active erosive osteoarthritis of the hand (EOA). Forty outpatients treated with anti-inflammatory (NSAIDs) or analgesic drugs since at least 6 months, for at least 3 days a week, were randomly divided into two groups. Group A: 24 patients treated for 6 months with intramuscular (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To study the correlation between quantitative ultrasound (QUS) expressed as stiffness index (SI) and the risk of aseptic loosening of knee arthroplasty.
Methods: An observational retrospective controlled study was performed on 85 female patients (mean age: 73.3 years) divided into 2 groups from January 2007 to March 2015 and carried out at the Orthopedic Rehabilitation Unit, Casa di Cura Eremo, Arco, Trento, Italy.
Unlabelled: To compare the efficacy of the addition of clarithromycin (CM) to methotrexate (MTX) and methylprednisolone (MP) in active rheumatoid arthritis (RA). 32 patients with RA consecutively randomized.
Control Group: sixteen patients treated for 24 months with MTX 10-15 mg i.
We evaluated the efficacy of clodronate for treating active erosive osteoarthritis of the hand and to compare it with hydroxychloroquine. Group A consisted of 24 patients treated for 24 months with clodronate 300 mg i.v.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIL-12 is a 75 kDa heterodimeric cytokine composed of two disulfide-linked subunits, p35 and p40, which plays an important role in the regulation of the immune response. We tested the hypothesis that thiol antioxidants might interfere with dimerization of the two IL-12 subunits. We thus studied the effect of reduced glutathione (GSH) and N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) on IL-12 p75 production by human THP-1 cell stimulated with IFN-gamma and Staphylococcus aureus Cowan strain I (SAC), using ELISAs specific for IL-12 p75 or the p40 subunit.
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