Tentative diagnostic criteria and disease severity classification for Castleman disease: A report of the research group on Castleman disease in Japan.

Objectives: To determine the tentative diagnostic criteria and disease severity classification for Castleman disease (CD) and describe the clinical and pathologic features among human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) negative idiopathic multicentric CD (iMCD) in the Japanese population.

Methods: We established the working groups for the research of CD in Japan and had meetings to discuss and define the tentative diagnostic criteria and disease severity classification for CD. We subsequently analyzed 142 patients classified into iMCD by using the nationwide Japanese patient registry.

MMP-3 as a predictor for structural remission in RA patients treated with MTX monotherapy.

Background: The study was undertaken to assess the efficacy of methotrexate (MTX) monotherapy on the radiographic progression of individual rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, each of whom had received MTX monotherapy for 3 years with an option to change to biological disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (bDMARDs). We also looked for predictors of radiographic non-progression in these patients.

Methods: Rheumatoid patients (n = 161) were prospectively followed for 3 years while receiving low-dose MTX monotherapy unless disease was otherwise active and/or adverse events appeared.

Discontinuation of etanercept after achievement of sustained remission in patients with rheumatoid arthritis who initially had moderate disease activity-results from the ENCOURAGE study, a prospective, international, multicenter randomized study.

Objectives: To investigate the efficacy and safety of etanercept (ETN) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with moderate disease activity and the possibility to discontinue ETN after achieving remission.

Methods: Multicenter, randomized, and open-label study was conducted in Japan and Korea. RA patients (disease duration <5 years) with moderate disease activity despite methotrexate (MTX) treatment were allocated to either MTX or ETN + MTX (Period 1) for 12 months.

Serum levels and pharmacodynamics of methotrexate and its metabolite 7-hydroxy methotrexate in Japanese patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with 2-mg capsule of methotrexate three times per week.

Methotrexate (MTX) is the first-choice drug for rheumatoid arthritis (RA); however, the pharmacodynamics of MTX in Japanese patients with RA treated legitimately according to the government recommended dosage, 6 mg per week, are unknown. Methotrexate and its metabolite, 7-hydroxy MTX (7-OH MTX), were measured in sera of 16 outpatients with active RA in the first week of MTX treatment and 4-12 weeks after the introduction at 0, 1, 2, 4, and 8 h after administration of the first and the third 2-mg capsule, followed by sampling at 48, 96, and 168 h. The mean maximal serum drug concentration (mean C(max)) of MTX attained at 1-2 h after ingestion of the first capsule was 0.

[Interferon alpha (IFNalpha) treatment for Sjögren's syndrome].

IFNalpha is important for the defense against viral infection. By using a sensitive radioimmunoassay, we previously established the existence of endogenous IFNalpha in human. Serum IFNalpha, i.

Clinical and serological heterogeneity in patients with anticentromere antibodies.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical and serological heterogeneity in patients with anticentromere antibodies (ACA).

Methods: One hundred twenty patients with ACA were analyzed retrospectively. ACA were detected initially on the basis of indirect immunofluorescence on HEp-2 cells, and then antibodies to CENP-B were measured by ELISA.

[Systemic lupus erythematosus and antiphospholipid antibody syndrome in a patient with congenital ichthyosiform erythroderma].

A 23-year-old woman, who had nonbullous congenital ichthyosiform erythroderma since her childhood, was diagnosed as nephrotic syndrome caused by systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). She was pregnant but experienced fetal loss at the age of 25. Although 10 mg/day of oral prednisolone was administered, low levels of serum complement, proteinuria, thrombocytopenia (6.

Clinically normal skin becomes sclerodermatous when transplanted into a sclerodermatous area.

A 56-year-old female with systemic sclerosis developed sclerodermatous change in clinically normal forearm skin 10 months after this was transplanted to the tip of her right index finger. This observation implicates local factors in the pathogenesis of the disease.