Breedveld FC Research Articles

AB0434 Relation of Subclinical Ultrasound Detected Synovitis and Peripheral B-Cell Counts in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Treated with Rituximab

BackgroundThe clinical response in patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) to rituximab (RTX) has been shown to be related with the presence of B-cells in the synovi. To date this has...

FRI0017 How Age, Gender and Body Mass Index Affect the Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate and the C-Reactive Protein in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis

BackgroundThe erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) are two commonly used indirect measures of the extent of inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). As current RA treatment guidelines strongly...

FRI0585-HPR A Survey of Irish Physiotherapists' Current Practice in Promoting Physical Activity in Rheumatoid Arthritis

BackgroundPhysical activity (PA) and exercise are important for people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (Van den Ende et al 2000; Kennedy et al 2007). Establishing current practice among Irish Physiotherapists regarding...

SAT0237 The Clinical Efficacy and Safety of Abatacept for Rheumatoid Arthritis from Japanese Multi-Center Registry: 2-Year Outcomes

BackgroundThe 2010 EULAR Recommendations have been updated last year, abatacept (ABT) has become available as the first biologic agent for patients with RA (1). The long term efficacy and safety...

AB1125 A Comparison of the Effects of Kinesiotherapy and Post-Isometric Relaxation on Knee Pain in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

BackgroundRheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, systemic inflammatory disease of unknown etiology that produces a progressive degeneration of the musculoskeletal system [1].The management of RA rests on drug treatment and...

AB0247 Mean Platelet Volume: A Controversial Marker of Disease Activity in Rheumatoid Arthritis

BackgroundThe platelet count, C-reactive protein (CRP) level, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) are markers that reflect the inflammatory response in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (1). Although neutrophils, mast cells,...

AB0224 Treating rheumatoid arthritis to target: a singapore survey

BackgroundIn recent years, the treatment paradigm for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has changed significantly. Treat to Target (T2T) is a global initiative that aims to provide guidance to treat RA to...

FRI0072 A risk-tailored strategy enables individualized stratification of care with improved outcome and appropriate allocation of limited resources – long-term results of a managed care model in early arthritis

ObjectivesWe have developed a managed care model for early arthritis that combines the following principles: a) treat to target (clinical remission, functional capacity, radiologic progression); b) tight control; c) prospective...

THU0094 Direct comparison of four biological agents in bio-naïve rheumatoid arthritis patients

BackgroundThe treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has changed significantly, and biological agents now occupy an extremely prominent position in treatment strategies. The 2010 EULAR recommendations list TNF inhibitors as the...

AB0483 Cutaneous adverse events related to TNFα blockers in patients with chronic inflammatory arthritis

BackgroundTNFα blockers are effective options for the treatment of different forms of chronic inflammatory arthritis (CIA). However, these drugs are associated with a greater frequency of adverse events, especially infectious...

SAT0139 The preventive effect of infliximab on progression of occipito-cervical lesion in RA patients

BackgroundRheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, progressive, and inflammatory disease, resulting severe joint destruction. Recent reports on the treatment of anti-TNF-a agent have shown strong clinical efficacy in preventing destruction...

AB0043 Affinity purification and characterization of human acpas

BackgroundAutoimmunity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterized by autoantibodies to citrullinated proteins/peptides (ACPA)1. These antibodies, present in 60-70% of patients, antedate clinical onset and associate with an erosive disease course,...

AB0293 Changes in glucocorticoid treatment in the first year of biological therapy in RA patients

BackgroundGlucocorticoids (GC) are very commonly used in the rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treatment; however their potential risks warrants a rational use. 1,2ObjectivesEvaluate the impact of biological therapies on GC use in...

AB0609 Are hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and leflunomide (LEF) effective in DMARD naive patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA)?

BackgroundBoth HCQ and LEF are members of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs)drugs (DMARDs)used to slow down RA progression. They have documented efficacy in reducing signs and symptoms in RA and are...

AB1460-HPR A grip force over 104 newton is associated to less activity limitations and pain in women with hand ostheoarthratis

BackgroundHand osteoarthritis (OA) affects 51% of women over 65 years. The distal and proximal interphalangeal joints and the first carpometacarpal joints are usually involved. This leads to pain as well...

FRI0135 Baseline characteristics and twelve month outcomes of patients from the prague early rheumatoid arhritis clinic

BackgroundEarly treatment with disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) improves outcome in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Early arthritis clinic is a useful tool which allows early treatment initiation for high...

Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase Deficiency Impairs Matrix Metalloproteinase-9 Activity and Disrupts Leukocyte Migration in Hepatic Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury

Matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) is a critical mediator of leukocyte migration in hepatic ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. To test the relevance of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression on the regulation of MMP-9 activity in liver I/R injury, our experiments included both iNOS-deficient mice and mice treated with ONO-1714, a specific iNOS inhibitor. The inability of iNOS-deficient mice to generate iNOS-derived nitric oxide (NO) profoundly inhibited MMP-9 activity and depressed leukocyte migration in livers after I/R injury. While macrophages expressed both iNOS and MMP-9 in damaged wild-type livers, neutrophils expressed MMP-9 and were virtually negative for iNOS; however, exposure of isolated murine neutrophils and macrophages to exogenous NO increased MMP-9 activity in both cell types, suggesting that NO may activate MMP-9 in leukocytes by either autocrine or paracrine mechanisms. Furthermore, macrophage NO production through the induction of iNOS was capable of promoting neutrophil transmigration across fibronectin in a MMP-9-dependent manner. iNOS expression in liver I/R injury was also linked to liver apoptosis, which was reduced in the absence of MMP-9. These results suggest that MMP-9 activity induced by iNOS-derived NO may also lead to detachment of hepatocytes from the extracellular matrix and cell death, in addition to regulating leukocyte migration across extracellular matrix barriers. These data provide evidence for a novel mechanism by which MMP-9 can mediate iNOS-induced liver I/R injury.

Rheumatology

Rheumatology

The Toll-Like Receptor Adaptor Proteins MyD88 and Mal/TIRAP Contribute to the Inflammatory and Destructive Processes in a Human Model of Rheumatoid Arthritis

The widespread distribution of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and their ligands raises the question whether they contribute to the production of inflammatory and tissue destructive molecules in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We examined the expression and function of TLR2 and TLR4 and their downstream signaling adaptors MyD88 and Mal/TIRAP in synovial membrane cultures from RA tissue. Both TLR2 and TLR4 were detected by flow cytometry, and stimulation with TLR2 and TLR4 ligands augmented the spontaneous production of tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-8, indicating that TLR2 and TLR4 are functional in these cultures. In addition, overexpression of dominant-negative forms of MyD88 and Mal/TIRAP significantly down-regulated the spontaneous production of cytokines tumor necrosis factor-alpha, IL-6, and vascular endothelial growth factor, and enzymes MMP-1, MMP-2, MMP-3, and MMP-13 in RA synovial membrane cell cultures. Because TLR2 and TLR4 require both MyD88 and Mal/TIRAP for signaling, this study suggests that TLR function may regulate the expression of these factors in the RA synovium. Conditioned media from synovial membrane cell cultures stimulated human macrophages in a MyD88- and Mal-dependent manner, suggesting the release of a TLR ligand(s) from these cells. Thus, TLRs not only protect against infection but may also promote the inflammatory and destructive process in RA.

Management of the foot in rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune-mediated, systemic, inflammatory disease which is chronic and progressive in nature. It is the most common form of inflammatory arthritis and affects 1% of men and 3% of women. Diagnostic criteria, as defined by the American Rheumatism Association, are morning