Arthritis and rheumatism
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Arthritis and rheumatism · Dec 2007
Persistence of abnormal bronchoalveolar lavage findings after cyclophosphamide treatment in scleroderma patients with interstitial lung disease.
Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) is a procedure for sampling the terminal airspace cell population to diagnose alveolitis, a condition that predicts changes in lung function in scleroderma patients. Cyclophosphamide (CYC) stabilizes the progression of lung disease in some, but not all, patients with active alveolitis. However, it is unknown whether the BAL fluid cell count obtained after CYC treatment of alveolitis predicts long-term lung function outcomes and can therefore be used to assist in therapeutic decision-making. The purpose of this study was to determine whether CYC therapy for active lung disease alters BAL fluid neutrophil and eosinophil counts and whether the persistence of abnormal BAL findings after CYC therapy predicts a decline in lung function in patients with scleroderma and interstitial lung disease (ILD). ⋯ Persistently abnormal results on BAL fluid analysis following CYC treatment is a common finding and does not predict a subsequent decline in lung function.
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Arthritis and rheumatism · Dec 2007
Hyperexpression of cyclooxygenase 2 in the lupus immune system and effect of cyclooxygenase 2 inhibitor diet therapy in a murine model of systemic lupus erythematosus.
To investigate the role of cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) in the functioning of different cell types involved in the lupus autoimmune response, and to examine the therapeutic effect of COX-2 inhibitors in mice prone to spontaneously develop systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). ⋯ The contributions of the major players in the pathogenic autoimmune response, namely, T cells, B cells, dendritic cells, and macrophages that are abnormally hyperactive in lupus, depend on the increased expression and activity of COX-2, similar to inflammatory cells in target organs. Intermittent pulse therapy with low doses of select COX-2 inhibitors would be of value in the treatment of lupus.
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Arthritis and rheumatism · Nov 2007
Gene expression profiling of peripheral blood from patients with untreated new-onset systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis reveals molecular heterogeneity that may predict macrophage activation syndrome.
Systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is frequently associated with the development of macrophage activation syndrome. This study was undertaken to better understand the relationship between systemic JIA and macrophage activation syndrome. ⋯ These data indicate that gene expression profiling can be a useful tool for identifying early macrophage activation syndrome in patients with systemic JIA.