SAN FRANCISCO—Metabolomics could one day be a treasure map of information about inflammation in rheumatic disease. There are many metabolic pathways to pursue for clues on how to reverse this damaging process. “All of these signaling pathways are interrelated and affect each other,” said Douglas J. Veale, MD, director of translational research at Dublin Academic…
SAN FRANCISCO—To help rheumatologists better understand the underlying mechanisms of autoimmune diseases, Mark Anderson, MD, PhD, professor of adult endocrinology, University of California, San Francisco, spoke during the 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting on ways in which immune regulation and tolerance work to ensure health in individuals who maintain tolerance to self-antigens and how these processes…
SAN FRANCISCO—To date, evidence on the efficacy of blocking the cytokine tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and its receptors in autoimmune diseases has resulted in the approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of five anti-TNF agents. Less well known, according to Richard Siegel, MD, PhD, chief, Immunoregulation Section, Autoimmunity Branch, and Clinical Director, NIAMS,…
Patient portals are online programs and applications that help patients and physicians interact. Although there are many different implementations, most will have some sort of messaging component to help with communication between the doctor and the patient, as well as access to at least some elements of the chart, such as test results. “Patients should…
On Nov. 2, 2015, President Barack Obama signed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (the Act) into law. This critical piece of legislation raises the federal debt ceiling and provides the framework for the federal budget through 2017. Of particular importance, the Act significantly changes the way Medicare will reimburse hospitals for outpatient services furnished…
Biosimilars Receive Positive News On Nov. 19, 2015, the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) recommended granting marketing authorization for SB4, an etanercept biosimilar product that will be called Benepali.1 If approved, Benepali can be used to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), axial spondyloarthritis and plaque psoriasis….
The results of a new study examined the human osteoclast-associated receptor may aid in the development of therapeutic matrikines to control aberrant osteoclastogenesis in some autoimmune diseases…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) show imbalance in their fungal intestinal microbiota, according to new findings. “The fungal microbiota is a new actor to take into account in the pathogenesis of IBD and potentially in other diseases,” Dr. Harry Sokol of Hospital Saint-Antoine in Paris, an author of the new study,…
A recent study used MRI to show that tofacitinib reduces inflammation and inhibition of the progression of structural damage in adults with early RA…
(Reuters Health)—Breathing textile dust on the job is linked to an almost tripled risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a Malaysian study suggests. While smoking is a known risk factor for RA, the findings add to evidence suggesting that environmental factors could trigger RA in some people, the researchers note in their report in Annals…