Atacicept in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: results of a multicenter, phase Ib, double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-escalating, single- and repeated-dose study.

Objective: Atacicept is a recombinant fusion protein that binds and neutralizes B lymphocyte stimulator and a proliferation-inducing ligand. The purpose of this study was to investigate the tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics of atacicept treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to collect exploratory data on clinical outcomes.

Methods: In this multicenter, phase Ib, randomized, placebo-controlled, dose-escalating trial, 73 patients were enrolled into 6 escalating-dose cohorts.

Differences in the relationship of specificity to titre and functional affinity between circulating Ga- and pan-reactive IgM rheumatoid factors in rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: To determine if there are the differences in titre and functional affinity for immunoglobulin (Ig) G subclasses and glycoforms between the Ga- and pan-specific IgM rheumatoid factors (RFs) present in the sera of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and to determine whether these two broad specificities have different functional roles in RA.

Methods: We used direct ELISA and modified ELISA to study the binding of IgM RF in the sera of 32 patients with RA with a range of RF titres to a panel of 14 IgG paraproteins of all four subclasses, some allotypes and different glycosylation patterns.

Results: Pan-specific RFs were mostly found in RA sera with high RF titres, and these RFs generally had higher avidity.

[Antinuclear antibodies detection in both HEp-2 cells and tissue section of the rat liver using indirect imunofluorescence].

Having in mind the importance of indirect immunofluorescence in antinuclear antibodies detection, the study was aimed to compare characteristics of fluorescent visualization and specificity of HEp-2 cells with tissue cryosections of the rat liver. The study included 76 serum samples obtained from patients with systemic connective tissue diseases. Out of that number, fluorescence findings on HEp-2 cells and rat liver tissue were positive in 74 and 54 patients, respectively.

[Reactive Yersinia arthritis].

Yersinia enterocolitica is the cause of acute enteritis in 2 to 3 per cent of cases. In adults it can be a "trigger" of reactive arthritis. Reactive arthritis is characterised by the appearance of sterile arthritis immediately after or during the infection outside the locomotor apparatus.