According to research, Pim kinases contribute to the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and may have the therapeutic potential for inhibition in patients with RA.


Residents from the RheumMadness Leadership Team: Michael Macklin, MD, PharmD; Ben Kellogg, MD; Lauren He, MD; & David Leverenz, MD |
According to research, Pim kinases contribute to the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and may have the therapeutic potential for inhibition in patients with RA.

Mass General Hospital Rheumatology Fellowship Program: Guy Katz, MD; Ian Cooley, MD; Duncan Moore, MD; Jacquelyn Nestor, MD, PhD; & Steven Witte, MD, PhD |
CD19 chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cell therapies may have the potential to treat rheumatic diseases in which current therapeutic options are limited, such as lupus, interstitial lung disease and systemic sclerosis.

The UNC Rheumatology Fellowship Program: Leah Bettner, MD; Shruti Chandramouli, MD; Christopher Overton, MD; Astia Allenzara, MD; Michael Cunningham, MD; & Luis Palomino, MD |
Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) contribute to the pathogenesis of multiple autoimmune diseases. And research has shown that patients with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) have higher levels of circulating anti-NET antibodies than healthy controls, indicating a potential biomarker.

COVID-19 vaccination, treatments for rheumatic disease and more—the Late-Breaking Abstracts session of ACR Convergence 2021 highlighted six studies with implications for rheumatology.
In February A&R, Penso et al. reported on the results of their study, which explored whether patients with psoriasis, PsA and AS have a higher risk of developing IBD when treated with an IL-17 inhibitor compared with apremilast, a phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) inhibitor, or etanercept, a TNF inhibitor.

A larger proportion of patients with gout had a therapeutic response at six months when treated with methotrexate and pegloticase than with pegloticase alone, according to results from the multi-center, open-label MIRROR (methoÂtrexate to increase response rates in patients with uncontrolled gout receiving KRYSTEXXA) study, recently published in the Journal of Rheumatology.1 The MIRROR study…
In January A&R, Simon et al. report a study to assess humoral and cellular immune responses after infection with, or vaccination against, SARS-CoV-2 in patients with B cell depletion and controls who are B cell competent, finding that B cell depletion completely blocks humoral but not T cell SARS-CoV-2 vaccination response. In the same issue, Connolly et al. evaluated disease flare and post-vaccination reactions in patients with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases following messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccination.

Jeffrey Curtis, MD, MS, MPH |
ACR CONVERGENCE 2021—The ACR Convergence 2021 meeting reflected the continued advancement of science and practical research in the field of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Among the most important topics this year in RA was the evolution of the risk-benefit profile of Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors, for which new safety data emerged in a series of related…
The ACR highlights essential information for providers for 2022 MIPS reporting in the 2022 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule, published Nov. 2.
A special article in the December issue of Arthritis & Rheumatology summarizes the current understanding of the cardiac toxicity of HCQ and CQ.