Clinical features of patients with systemic sclerosis positive for anti-SS-A antibody: a cohort study of 156 patients.

Background: Anti-SS-A/Ro antibody (anti-SSA), the diagnostic marker of Sjögren's syndrome (SS), is often detected in systemic sclerosis (SSc). Some patients are diagnosed with SSc/SS overlap syndromes, while there are anti-SSA-positive SSc cases without SS. In this study, we investigated the clinical characteristics of SSc with anti-SSA and clarified the clinical impact of this antibody in SSc.

Abnormal inflammatory traits and downregulated caveolin-1 expression in monocytes of psoriasis patients may be associated with psoriatic inflammation and atherosclerosis.

Background: Monocytes and macrophages are implicated in inflammation and atherosclerosis, whereas monocytes are involved in psoriasis lesion formation. We previously reported a psoriatic inflammation-associated significant decrease in the membrane protein caveolin-1 (CAV-1) in psoriasis patient monocytes. However, the phenotype of circulating monocytes and their macrophage differentiation in psoriasis patients remain unclear.

Downregulated IRF8 in Monocytes and Macrophages of Patients with Systemic Sclerosis May Aggravate the Fibrotic Phenotype.

Monocytes and macrophages may be involved in the pathogenesis of systemic sclerosis (SSc); however, the etiology and regulation of monocyte and macrophage function in SSc remain unknown. IRF8 is a transcriptional regulator that is essential for the differentiation and function of monocytes and macrophages and thus may be involved in the regulation of macrophage phenotypes in SSc fibrosis. In this study, we measured IRF8 levels in circulating monocytes of 26 patients with SSc (diffuse cutaneous SSc, n = 11; limited cutaneous SSc, n = 15) and 14 healthy controls.

Clinical significance of serum levels of anti-transcriptional intermediary factor 1-γ antibody in patients with dermatomyositis.

Dermatomyositis (DM) is an autoimmune inflammatory disease characterized by skin eruptions and myositis. Anti-transcriptional intermediary factor 1-γ antibody (anti-TIF1-γ Ab) is one of the most frequently detected myositis-specific autoantibodies and adults positive for anti-TIF1-γ have markedly higher rates of malignancy. Our aim was to determine the clinical associations of anti-TIF1-γ levels in 31 Japanese adult DM patients positive for anti-TIF1-γ.

Varied responses to and efficacies of hydroxychloroquine treatment according to cutaneous lupus erythematosus subtypes in Japanese patients.

Hydroxychloroquine is recommended as the first-line systemic treatment for cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) in Western countries, and it was approved in Japan in 2016. However, the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine in various cutaneous lupus erythematosus subtypes in Japanese patients has not been elucidated to date. Therefore, we investigated the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of cutaneous manifestations according to CLE subtypes in Japanese patients.