Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0024141 (systemic lupus erythematosus)
 44,322 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Stromelysin-1 (MMP-3) is a metalloproteinase that degrades articular cartilage matrix in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We measured MMP-3 in the sera from patients with RA and other connective tissue diseases using specific sandwich EIA and studied its clinical significance in early onset RA. MMP-3 level in healthy control (n = 170) was significantly higher in male than in female. The level of MMP-3 in RA was significantly and dramatically higher than in healthy control, osteoarthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, progressive systemic sclerosis, primary sjogren's syndrome, mixed connective tissue disease, gouty arthritis and traumatic arthritis. Serum MMP-3 significantly correlated with serum BUN or serum creatinine levels in SLE patients but not in RA patients. In early onset RA, serum MMP-3 level was significantly elevated. Furthermore, when the relationship between the serum MMP-3 level and X-ray findings of the joints in RA was studied, it was found that MMP-3 level was elevated even in stage I or II and that there was no statistical differences between stage I or II and stage III or IV, suggesting that serum MMP-3 level is elevated in the early stage of initial inflammatory process when only mild cartilage degradation is seen. These results suggest that measurements of serum MMP-3 is an important tool for establishing diagnosis of early onset RA, and that serum MMP-3 level may be a marker of cartilage destruction and of estimating therapeutic efficacy in early onset RA.
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PMID:[Stromelysin-1 (MMP-3) level in the sera from patients with rheumatoid arthritis and other connective tissue diseases--clinical significances in early onset rheumatoid arthritis]. 773 85

Contrary to previous belief, there is increasing evidence that a broad spectrum of rheumatic diseases do affect African blacks. Although properly conducted epidemiological studies have yet to be performed, reports of population surveys from a variety of sub-Saharan African countries indicate that diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), gout, and the connective tissue diseases are observed, although some differences in clinical presentation may occur as a result of cultural, racial, and socioeconomic factors. Rheumatoid arthritis is common in some parts of Africa and less common in others. In particular, a significantly lower prevalence of RA in rural areas compared with urban cohorts has led to the hypothesis that environmental factors associated with urbanization may be involved in disease pathogenesis. A similar hypothesis has been suggested for hyperuricemia and gout. Clinical features of disease may also be different in Africans when compared with other population subgroups such as with systemic lupus erythematosus although this may be artefactual as different accessibility to health care and referral practices may result in only the more severe cases coming to medical attention (eg, lupus nephritis). Immunogenetic factors may reduce the prevalence of some conditions such as the spondyloarthropathies. Although the association between HLA-DR4 and RA holds true in Africans, the same is not so for the association of HLA-B27 with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). The prevalence of HLA-B27 in African blacks is 10 times less than Caucasian populations, in part accounting for the low prevalence of spondyloarthropathies, although its association with AS is low. Other conditions such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-related arthropathies appear to be an increasing medical problem. The panepidemic of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome in Africa has resulted in an increased awareness of the different types of arthritis that may be associated with HIV. These are similar to those reported in other parts of the world, although risk factors are different in Africa where heterosexual transmission is a more common cause than homosexual transmission or i.v. drug usage. Information on other rheumatic diseases such as osteoarthritis and soft tissue rheumatism are slowly emerging. Rheumatic manifestations of the infectious diseases, which are endemic in Africa, remain a uniquely fascinating aspect of rheumatology practice on the African continent. Therefore, African countries will increasingly be a continued valuable source of clinical material for comparative studies to help elucidate factors that influence the development of rheumatic diseases.
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PMID:Rheumatic diseases in African blacks. 783 55

Relationship between chemiluminescent response of whole citrate capillary blood of normal subjects, patients with osteoarthrosis deformans (n = 21) and with systemic lupus erythematosus (n = 37) and the temperature and duration of storage of blood samples was under study. Luminol-dependent chemiluminescence was induced by barium sulfate microcrystals and recorded as a curve. Chemiluminescence intensity was found to increase if the samples were stored longer than 1 h, this increase being reliably higher in the patients with systemic lupus erythematosus than in normal subjects or patients with osteoarthrosis. Capacity of citrate blood phagocytes to chemiluminescent response is partially preserved after 24 h storage on the cold, but is commonly manifest only after an hour's adaptation to room temperature. The following phases are characteristic of the chemiluminescent response curve in the majority of cases: latent (up to 1.5 = 4 h), an abrupt rise, and slow decrease.
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PMID:[Effects of temperature and duration of storage of citrated blood on chemiluminescence of its phagocytes]. 789 10

Blood levels of dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS) were measured by radioimmunoassay (RIA) in patients with: a) polymyalgia rheumatica/giant cell arteritis (PMR:TA; N = 25), with and without cortisone derivative treatment (N = 10 and N = 15, respectively); and b) primary fibromyalgia (PF; N = 15). The mean DHEAS levels were found to be significantly reduced in PMR:TA, compared to those in PF (Geom. mean 820 vs. 2300 nmol/l, respectively; p < 0.001), and the reduction was more marked in patients on cortisone derivative treatment. The DHEAS levels found in PF were found to be normal and consistent with those previously reported in non-immune mediated rheumatological diseases such as osteoarthritis, and in healthy subjects, using the same method of analysis. The low levels found in patients with PM:TA are in accordance with those previously reported in immune-mediated diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis, suggesting that diminution of DHEAS is a constant endocrinologic feature in these categories of patients. The pathophysiological significance of these low DHEAS levels needs to be investigated.
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PMID:Blood dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS) levels in polymyalgia rheumatica/giant cell arteritis and primary fibromyalgia. 795 6

Understanding, description, and classification of musculoskeletal pain syndromes have been further substantiated, but linking them to physical and psychological variables remains problematic. Core tools to measure disability in a population context forms a stable, well validated set of instruments, which increasingly has been translated, tested, and applied in sociocultural settings and in outcome research. Evidence for a declining incidence of rheumatoid arthritis seems established, and paleopathologic evidence indirectly provides some support for a possible causative environmental agent. Within an epidemiologic framework, immunogenetic studies continue to suggest an increasing number of subsets of rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and ankylosing spondylitis variants. Studies in which the overuse hypothesis was tested as a cause in the etiology of osteoarthritis have provided conflicting results. Increasing evidence shows a secular trend in loss of bone mineral density, resulting in an increased fracture incidence. However, validated methods to safely prevent osteoporosis and fracture are also being established. Finally, although they are now well recognized and scientifically productive, large long-term epidemiologic studies should be critically examined.
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PMID:Epidemiology of the rheumatic diseases. 802 56

Pericardial and lung involvement in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), suspected to be less severe in a developing nation (Turkey), have been evaluated. We have studied clinical, echocardiographic and pulmonary findings (radiological and functional) in 93 consecutive Turkish patients with definite/classical RA. Findings were compared with those of a group of patients with osteoarthritis or local rheumatological conditions (n = 60) in a blind protocol. Fifty patients with systemic lupus (SLE) were studied as a high risk control group for pericardial involvement. While pericardial disease was detected in 5.5% (5/90) of RA patients, it was detected in 6.6% (4/60) of the control patients. SLE patients had a 26% (13/50) prevalence. Interstitial lung disease was found in 27.7% of RA patients but it was present in 6.6% (4/60) of the control patients. We observed that a group of patients with RA in Turkey had a low prevalence of pericardial disease. This is further evidence that RA has a mild course in developing countries.
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PMID:Pericardial and pulmonary involvement in rheumatoid arthritis in Turkey. 808 66

Six of seven patients with Lyme arthritis were positive by PCR. In contrast, all 18 synovial fluid samples from patients with other disorders, including rheumatoid arthritis, spondyloarthropathy, gout, pseudogout, hemarthrosis, degenerative joint disease, lupus, papillary synovitis, and trauma, were negative by PCR (P < 0.001, Lyme arthritis compared with controls, Fisher exact test). All 38 laboratory controls were negative by PCR. The assay reproducibly detected 20 or fewer B. burgdorferi cells directly or when added to extracted synovial fluid that was previously negative by PCR. Polymerase chain reaction was done four times with identical results, including analyses with both outer surface protein A primer sets.
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PMID:The persistence of spirochetal nucleic acids in active Lyme arthritis. 831 77

Cytokines are important protein mediators in inflammatory joint diseases. The synovial fluid and plasma concentrations of interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1 alpha), interleukin-2 (IL-2), tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interferon-alpha (IF-alpha) and interferon-gamma (IF-gamma) were measured by RIA and ELISA in 28 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients (5 males and 23 females). Ten patients with knee effusions due to other causes (osteoarthritis, psoriasis, gout, rheumatic fever, systemic lupus erythematosus) were also studied. Eight of the RA patients had erosive disease. The synovial fluid IL-1 alpha and IL-2 concentrations were higher in Group 1 (erosive) [IL-1 alpha: 524 pg/ml (SEM: 127), IL-2: 3.28 ng/ml (SEM: 1.0)] than in either Group 2 (non-erosive) [IL-1 alpha: 241 pg/ml (SEM: 24), IL-2: 1.93 ng/ml (SEM: 0.6)] or Group 3 (non-RA) [IL-1 alpha: 267 pg/ml (SEM: 58), IL-2: 0.35 ng/ml (SEM: 0.6)] (p < 0.003 and p < 0.06 respectively). Plasma IL-1 and IL-2 levels were higher in Group 1 [IL-1 alpha: 408 pg/ml (SEM: 107), IL-2: 4.20 ng/ml (SEM: 1.5)] than in Group 2 [IL-1 alpha 150 pg/ml (SEM: 15), IL-2: 2.58 ng/ml (SEM: 0.7)] or Group 3 [IL-1 alpha: 140 pg/ml (SEM: 11), IL-2: 1.93 ng/ml (SEM: 0.3)] (p < 0.01, p < 0.009 respectively). There were no differences in the IFN-alpha, IFN-gamma or TNF-alpha levels between groups. These findings suggest that plasma cytokines levels may reflect synovial levels and that IL-1 alpha may play a significant role in erosive joint disease.
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PMID:Cytokine concentrations in the synovial fluid and plasma of rheumatoid arthritis patients: correlation with bony erosions. 816 43

From March 1986 to June 1992, 100 primary total knee arthroplasties were done in 69 patients. The demographic data and complications were analysed in these 69 patients. The first 50 knees with a minimal follow-up of one year (range 1-6 years) were analysed in more detail according to the International Knee Society Rating System. Detailed radiological evaluation was also carried out to assess positioning of the components. There were 79 knees with osteoarthritis, 20 knees with rheumatoid arthritis and one with Systemic Lupus Erythromatosus (SLE). The knee score was poor in all knees pre-operatively. Post-operatively 78% had good to excellent score and the other 22% had fair knee score. However the functional score remained poor in 50% of the knees. Ideal tibio-femoral alignment was obtained in 68% of the knees. Twenty four percent of the knees had 0.4 degrees of varus and eight percent had 10-12 degrees valgus. Complication rate was low with 1% of infection (one knee). Overall early results were satisfactory.
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PMID:Early results of total knee replacements: "a clinical and radiological evaluation". 818 67

To investigate the prevalence of autoantibodies directed against Fc gamma RII (CD32) and Fc gamma RIII (CD16), 151 serum samples from patients with different autoimmune diseases and 25 samples obtained from healthy individuals were assayed by ELISA on microtiter plates coated with recombinant truncated Fc gamma RII and Fc gamma RIII protein. Class specificity was defined with anti-IgG, anti-IgM, and anti-IgA reagents. High titers of circulating IgM autoantibodies reacting with both Fc gamma RII and Fc gamma RIII were characteristic for SLE and rheumatoid arthritis patients. Sera from patients with Raynaud's syndrome showed predominantly IgG reactivity with Fc gamma RIII. Sera from patients with progressive systemic sclerosis showed both IgG and IgM Fc gamma RII and Fc gamma RIII reactivity. Many patients diagnosed with degenerative osteoarthritis also had IgG autoantibodies, directed primarily against Fc gamma RII with lesser reactivity toward Fc gamma RIII. Further study is needed to correlate these findings to clinical characteristics of the different diseases.
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PMID:Specificity and class distribution of Fc gamma R-specific autoantibodies in patients with autoimmune disease. 825 99


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