Plasma pentraxin 3 is associated with progression of radiographic joint damage, but not carotid atherosclerosis, in female rheumatoid arthritis patients: 3-year prospective study.

Background: Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) has an important role in inflammation, immunity, and atherosclerosis. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease featuring both joint damage and atherosclerosis. We investigated whether the plasma PTX3 level was associated with progression of joint destruction and subclinical atherosclerosis in RA patients.Methods: Plasma PTX3 levels were measured in 72 women with RA and 80 female control subjects. In RA patients, we also evaluated clinical characteristics, medications, and at one and three years, joint damage and atherosclerosis. Then we investigated whether PTX3 was associated with progression of joint destruction or an increase of carotid intima-media thickness (IMT).Results: Plasma PTX3 levels were significantly higher in the RA patients than in healthy controls (4.05 ± 2.91 ng/mL vs. 1.61 ± 1.05 ng/mL, p < .001). By multivariate linear regression analysis, the plasma pentraxin 3 level was independently associated with radiographic progression of joint damage for 3 years in the RA patients after adjustment for age, disease duration, body mass index, rheumatoid factor, MMP-3, Disease Activity Score 28-ESR, postmenopausal status, current use of corticosteroids and biologic use. On the other hands, pentraxin 3 was not associated with an increase of carotid intima-media thickness in RA patients.Conclusion: Female RA patients had elevated plasma PTX3 levels compared with control female subjects. PTX3 was independently associated with radiographic progression of joint damage in the RA patients, but not with carotid atherosclerosis.

Evidence-based clinical practice guideline for adult Still's disease.

OBJECTIVES: Using an expert- and data-driven methodology, we have constructed the first clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for adult Still's disease (ASD) after complete systematic review (SR) of the literature based upon the Medical Information Network Distribution Service (Minds) procedure. METHODS: The CPG committee for ASD organized by the Research Team for Autoimmune Diseases, the Research Program for Intractable Disease of the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare has developed CPG for ASD 2017, according to the procedure proposed by Minds. The CPG development process includes (1) clarification of the purpose of CPG, (2) organization of the steering committee, (3) organization of the CPG committee and secretariat, (4) defining the scope (setting of clinical questions (CQs)), (5) SR, (6) development of recommendations, (7) drafting the CPG, (8) external evaluation and public comments, and (9) release. Because we wanted to construct CPG for ASD to encompass both adult-onset Still's disease (AOSD) and adult patients with systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA), we also included SR data from sJIA in this study. RESULTS: Twenty-six CQs were selected and roughly divided into the following items: (1) clinical findings (CQs 1-4), (2) laboratory findings (CQs 5-8), (3) complications (CQs 9-13), (4) treatment with oral medicine (CQs 14-19), (5) treatment with biological reagents (CQs 20-23), and (6) treatments for sJIA (CQs 25-26). Recommendations and the strength of the recommendations for these CQs were decided by a modified Delphi method. CONCLUSION: We have developed the first published CPG for ASD including AOSD and sJIA, which includes 26 CQs and recommendations. This guideline will help rheumatologists, non-specialized physicians, other healthcare providers, medical and health-related students, and patients and their family members to understand and treat ASD.

Evaluation of the alternative classification criteria of systemic lupus erythematosus established by Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC).

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the performance of the 2012 Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics criteria (SLICC-12) on classifying systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in an uncontrolled multi-centered study with real-life scenario of the patients in Japan. METHODS: This study comprised 495 patients with SLE or non-SLE rheumatic diseases and allied conditions from 12 institutes in Japan. Chart review of each patient was performed by the 27 expert rheumatologists and diagnosis of 487 cases reached to the consensus. Value of the SLICC-12 on SLE classification was analyzed comparing with the 1997 revised American College of Rheumatology SLE classification criteria (ACR-97) employing the expert-consented diagnoses. RESULTS: Compared to the ACR-97, the SLICC-12 had a higher sensitivity (ACR-97 vs. SLICC-12: 0.88 vs. 0.99, p < .01) and comparable specificity (0.85 vs. 0.80). The rate of misclassification (0.14 vs. 0.11) or the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (0.863 vs. 0.894) was not statistically different. In the cases that diagnoses corresponded in high rates among experts, both criteria showed high accordance of SLE classification over 85% with the expert diagnoses. CONCLUSION: Although employment of SLICC-12 for the classification for SLE should be carefully considered, the SLICC-12 showed the higher sensitivity on classifying SLE in Japanese population.

Nationwide epidemiological survey of 169 patients with adult Still's disease in Japan.

OBJECTIVES: A nationwide survey was conducted to assess the number of patients, clinical aspects, treatment, and prognosis of adult Still's disease (ASD) in Japan. METHODS: A primary questionnaire was sent to randomly selected medical institutions in order to estimate the number of patients. We sent a secondary questionnaire to the same institutions to characterize the clinical manifestations and treatment of ASD. RESULTS: The estimated prevalence of ASD was 3.9 per 100,000. Analysis of 169 patients showed a mean age at onset of 46 years. The main clinical symptoms were fever, arthritis, and typical rash in agreement with previous surveys. Oral glucocorticoids were used to treat 96% of the patients, while methotrexate was used in 41% and biological agents were used in 16%. Lymphadenopathy and macrophage activation syndrome were significantly associated with increased risk of relapse (P < 0.05, each). Patients who achieved remission after tocilizumab therapy had significantly longer disease duration (6.2 years) than patients who did not (1.9 years) (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The 2010-2011 nationwide survey of ASD identified important changes in treatment and improvement of prognosis compared with previous surveys.

Pentraxin 3 is associated with disease activity but not atherosclerosis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

OBJECTIVES: Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) plays an important role in inflammation, immunity, and atherosclerosis. Plasma PTX3 level has drawn attention as a marker that responds to local inflammation. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a chronic inflammatory disorder which can affect multiple organs, develops atherosclerosis prematurely. We examined the hypotheses that the concentration of plasma PTX3 increases in patients with SLE and that PTX3 is associated with the disease activity and premature atherosclerosis. METHODS: Plasma PTX3 concentrations were measured in 65 patients with SLE and 53 control subjects. The patients were also evaluated with respect to their clinical characteristics, disease activity indices, and corticosteroid therapy. We performed carotid ultrasonography to measure subclinical atherosclerosis in patients with SLE. RESULTS: Plasma PTX3 concentration of the SLE patients was significantly higher than that of the healthy controls (median 3.9 vs. 2.0 ng/mL, p < 0.001). In patients with SLE, PTX3 concentrations were correlated with SLEDAI (p = 0.011), BILAG index (p < 0.001), C-reactive protein (p < 0.001), anemia (p = 0.020), hypoalbuminemia (p = 0.022), and daily dose of prednisolone (p = 0.008) after adjustment for age and sex. PTX3 was not associated with disease duration, anti-ds DNA antibody, CH50, or carotid atherosclerosis. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with SLE have increased concentrations of PTX3 compared with control subjects. PTX3 was significantly associated with disease activity but not with carotid atherosclerosis.

Serum osteoprotegerin concentration is associated with carotid atherosclerotic plaque in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVE: Osteoprotegerin (OPG), a regulator of bone resorption, is involved in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and atherosclerosis. OPG is elevated in patients with coronary artery disease, and high OPG levels are associated with cardiac disease severity and mortality in the general population. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of serum OPG levels, traditional coronary risk factors, and RA-related factors to carotid atherosclerosis in RA patients. METHODS: Ninety-one RA patients were studied (85 % women, age 60 ± 10 years). Serum OPG levels were measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The prevalence of carotid plaque was assessed by ultrasonographic imaging in all patients. The relationship between various clinical characteristics, OPG, and carotid plaque was examined. RESULTS: Serum OPG levels were significantly higher in patients with carotid plaque than in those without plaque (median level 1,397 vs. 887 pg/mL, respectively; P = 0.006). There were no significant differences between RA patients with and without carotid plaque with respect to sex, duration of RA, blood pressure, body mass index, smoking, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, Disease Activity Score-28, van der Heijde-modified Sharp score, and prednisolone dose. After adjusting for age, sex, and C-reactive protein, elevated levels of OPG were still associated with a higher prevalence of carotid plaque in patients with RA (P = 0.038). CONCLUSION: RA patients suffer from accelerated atherosclerosis and also have increased levels of OPG. The serum OPG level is independently associated with carotid plaque.

Transition from epoprostenol to selexipag in a patient with systemic sclerosis and pulmonary hypertension during the postoperative period of colon cancer surgery: A case report.

Introduction: Most pulmonary vasodilators are administered orally; however, in patients with pulmonary hypertension undergoing gastrointestinal surgery, a switch to parenteral drugs is needed. Parenteral pulmonary vasodilators carry a risk of infection and reduced quality of life owing to long-term central venous catheterization; therefore, it is preferable to switch them to oral vasodilators after surgery. Here, we present the case of a patient with systemic sclerosis complicated by pulmonary hypertension and colon cancer, for which treatment was successfully switched from epoprostenol to selexipag postoperatively. Case Description: A 59-year-old woman, who was diagnosed with mixed group I and III pulmonary hypertension and systemic sclerosis, was on oral triple pulmonary vasodilators for pulmonary hypertension and Raynaud's phenomenon. She was diagnosed as having colon cancer 3 months before admission. Despite the severe pulmonary condition and treatment with oral triple pulmonary vasodilators, colon cancer resection surgery was performed with the management for pulmonary hypertension through multidisciplinary treatments in collaboration with cardiology specialists. Medications for patients with pulmonary hypertension undergoing gastrointestinal surgery need to be switched from oral vasodilators to epoprostenol perioperatively. On postoperative day 19, 0.4 mg/day of selexipag was administered with epoprostenol. Subsequently, the epoprostenol dosage was gradually decreased, and selexipag was increased. On postoperative day 30, the dose of selexipag was increased to 1.2 mg/day and epoprostenol was discontinued. The patient was discharged on postoperative day 40. Conclusion: In our case, transition from epoprostenol to selexipag contributed to a more useful management strategy for systemic sclerosis and pulmonary hypertension in the postoperative period.