Prevalence of overlap of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody associated vasculitis with systemic autoimmune diseases: an unrecognized example of poliautoimmunity

Clinical Rheumatology - We aimed to estimate the frequency of overlap of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) with systemic autoimmune diseases. Retrospective...     

Distinctive autoantibody profile in Mexican Mestizo systemic sclerosis patients

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) shows variable clinical expression among different ethnic groups. Herein, we describe the clinical features, prevalence of organ involvement, and autoantibody profile in Mexican Mestizo SSc patients and we compare them with patients from other ethnic groups.We included 139 SSc patients. They underwent clinical evaluation and were tested for antinuclear antibodies (ANA), anticentromere antibodies (ACA), anti-topoisomerase I, anti-RNA polymerase III, anti-U1 RNP, anti-U3 RNP, anti-U11/U12 RNP, anti-Th/To, anti-PM-Scl, anti-Ku, antinucleosome, anti-double-stranded DNA (dsDNA), anti-Sm, anti-SSA, and anti-SSB antibodies. Female predominance (93.5%) was noted; 56.8% of patients had limited cutaneous SSc; 91% had peripheral vascular involvement; 70% had joint involvement; 27% had musculoskeletal damage; 66% had gastrointestinal involvement; 41% had interstitial lung disease; 32% had pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH); 11% had cardiac involvement; and in 1.4% renal involvement was observed. Our patients showed lower frequency of renal crisis and higher frequency of PAH than patients from other ethnic groups; also they showed higher frequency of ACA than Japanese and African American patients, higher frequency of anti-topoisomerase I than Caucasian and African American patients, higher frequency of anti-PM-Scl and anti-Ku and lower frequency of anti-RNA Pol III than the other ethnic groups. High frequencies of antinucleosome (41%) and anti-dsDNA (63%) were identified. SSc-specific autoantibody frequencies are different in our patients and in those from other ethnic groups; associations of autoantibodies with clinical manifestations are confirmed in our patients. Ethnicity and the interaction of gene and environmental factors may influence the clinical picture and autoantibody profile in SSc patients.     

Cachexia measured by bioelectrical impedance vector analysis and risk of infection in women with rheumatoid arthritis

Clinical Rheumatology - Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients have a higher frequency of infections than the healthy population. The reason has yet to be explained but involves several factors, of...     

Rituximab treatment in ANCA-associated vasculitis patients: outcomes of a real-life experience from an observational cohort

Clinical Rheumatology - Rituximab is a first-line therapy in patients with anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)–associated vasculitis (AAV). Among previous studies evaluating its...     

Severe infections in patients with anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis: a retrospective cohort study with a clinical phenotype approach

Rheumatology International - Severe infections are common in anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV). We aimed to describe the characteristics of patients with AAV...     

Correction to: Validation of a renal risk score in a cohort of ANCA-associated vasculitis patients with severe kidney damage

Clinical Rheumatology - The footnote of Figure 2 in the published original version of the above article went missing and the correct figure is presented in this article.     

Histopathologic classification of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated glomerulonephritis: achievements,limitations, and perspectives

Clinical and histological factors have been identified as predictors of early and late renal outcome in ANCA-associated vasculitides (AAV). The presence and severity of kidney involvement at diagnosis are associated with poor prognosis in both patient and renal survival. Histologic findings remain the gold standard for diagnosing patients with AAV. In order to quantify the extent of the morphological parameters in the renal biopsies and to identify the histopathological lesions that predict renal outcome, several scoring systems have been proposed to systematically assess kidney biopsies in AAV. Renal pathologists from an international working group proposed in 2010 a new histopathological classification. This scheme comprises four general categories, based on the predominance of the glomerular histological lesions: focal (≥50% normal glomeruli); crescentic (≥50% glomeruli with cellular crescents); mixed (<50% normal, <50% crescentic, <50% globally sclerotic glomeruli), and sclerotic (≥50% globally sclerotic glomeruli). This article reviews the background and the main studies that have validated the histopathologic classification of ANCA-associated glomerulonephritis, the conclusions derived from these studies, and the perspectives for the assessment of renal outcome in AAV.     

Cirugía cardiaca en pacientes con lupus eritematoso sistémico: características clínicas y desenlaces

Objectives

To study the clinical characteristics and outcomes in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients who underwent cardiac surgery.

Pituitary dysfunction in granulomatosis with polyangiitis

Clinical Rheumatology - Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) is a necrotizing granulomatous vasculitis of small vessels that affect the pituitary gland in less than 1% of cases being...     

Anti-RNP/Sm antibodies in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and its role in thrombosis: a case-control study

Clinical Rheumatology - To validate the association of thrombotic events with positive lupus anticoagulant (LA) and co-presence of anti-RNP/Sm, as well as the diagnostic accuracy of this...