Clinicians and researcher are gaining tools and insights into SLE, with newly proposed classification criteria and new findings on SLE pathogenesis presented at the 2018 EULAR: Annual European Congress of Rheumatology…


Clinicians and researcher are gaining tools and insights into SLE, with newly proposed classification criteria and new findings on SLE pathogenesis presented at the 2018 EULAR: Annual European Congress of Rheumatology…
Systemic lupus erythematous (SLE) is a chronic inflammatory disease that predominantly affects women and can involve virtually any organ. The authors of this study analyzed secular trends and population characteristics associated with SLE mortality. Objective: Mortality statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are used for planning healthcare policy and allocating resources….

On July 1, the Rheumatology Research Foundation awarded grants to a wide range of rheumatology trainees and professionals. The recipients will receive funding for essential education and training, as well as innovative research projects. Their applications were closely examined by experts in different areas of the field to ensure awards went to the most promising…
Many patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) report pain despite excellent control of inflammation with immunotherapies. Variable degrees of coexisting fibromyalgia (FM) may explain this disparity. RA patients who have the highest 2011 ACR FM survey criteria scores appear to share neurobiologic features consistently observed in FM patients. This study is the first to provide neuroimaging evidence that RA is a mixed pain state, with many patients’ symptoms being related to the central nervous system rather than to classic inflammatory mechanisms…
Objective: Low-grade bone marrow edema (BME) has been reported in the sacroiliac (SI) joints of 25% of healthy individuals and patients with nonspecific mechanical back pain, thus challenging the specificity and predictive value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the identification of early spondyloarthritis (SpA). It is unknown whether stress injury in competition sports may…
Although six biosimilar agents have now been approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration for use in rheumatology, scientific, clinical, economic and prescribing questions about the use of biosimilars abound. In fact, at the 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting in San Diego, Joseph Huffstutter, MD, a rheumatologist in private practice in Chattanooga, Tenn., said that…

With the aid of increasingly sophisticated neuroimaging technology, research into how the brain activates and changes in patients with chronic pain is delivering fascinating information that will hopefully pave the way to tailored, individual treatment of chronic pain. Over the past several years, data from neuroimaging studies have provided a new understanding of what occurs…
Arthritis prevalence in the U.S. population has been substantially underestimated, especially among adults younger than 65.

New RA Antibody Treatment SAN DIEGO—A recent study examined the pharmacokinetics, safety and efficacy of E6011, an anti-fractalkine monoclonal antibody designed to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA).1 Researchers presented the results of this first 52-week trial of E6011 at the 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting in November. Fractalkine (CX3CL1/FKN) is a chemokine that regulates chemotaxis and adhesion…

SAN DIEGO—B cell signaling goes awry in many patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), triggering pathogenic autoimmune responses and clinical disease. At the Rheumatology Research Foundation’s 2017 Evelyn V. Hess Memorial Lecture, held on Nov. 5 at the ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, researcher Ignacio Sanz, MD, discussed B cells’ role in this complex disease. Because lupus…