Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0039483 (giant cell arteritis)
 3,204 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Autoantibodies against neutrophil cytoplasmic antigens (ANCA) produce two major immunofluorescence (IF) patterns on ethanol-fixed granulocytes: the "classical" (centrally accentuated) C-ANCA, associated with Wegener's granulomatosis (WG), and P-ANCA (perinuclear), which mainly occur in renal vasculitis. Rheumatic manifestations are an important clinical finding in systemic vasculitis, often preceding a fulminant course and sometimes imitating various rheumatic disorders. We analyzed the incidence of ANCA in rheumatic patients and looked for the frequency of rheumatic symptoms in systemic vasculitis. In WG (n = 186), we found rheumatic symptoms in 55% (myalgia, 45%; arthritis, 21%); in 90%, rheumatic complaints were associated with active vasculitis. In 730 patients with various rheumatic conditions (eg, 268 rheumatoid arthritis, 130 systemic lupus erythematosis [SLE], 32 sharp-S, 50 ankylosing spondylitis, 43 systemic sclerosis) no C-ANCA were found. On the contrary, the P-ANCA pattern was seen in seven of 62 giant cell arteritis, five of 27 Felty's/Still's syndrome, and four of 130 SLE patients in addition to renal vasculitis (21/74). We demonstrated that 95% of C-ANCA-positive sera react with proteinase 3 (PR3 or myeloblastin). Using monoclonal antibodies, we showed that PR3 is expressed on the plasma membrane of neutrophil granulocytes and monocytes; thus, PR3 autoantigens are accessible for circulating antibodies. The detection of ANCA in sera from vasculitis and other rheumatic diseases is of immunodiagnostic value and provides new insight in the pathogenesis of systemic vasculitides.
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PMID:Antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody-associated diseases: a rheumatologist's perspective. 186 75

The spectrum of diseases found in series of fever of unknown origin shows variation in relation to selection bias; particularly, selection of the most difficult cases in tertiary reference university centres. We present a series of 144 patients presenting to a non-university hospital between 1999 and 2005 (secondary level of the health care system) with a community-acquired fever of unknown origin. In 37 cases (25.7%), the reason for fever could not be explained. Among the 107 patients with a final diagnosis (74.3%), non-infectious inflammatory disorders represented the most prevalent category (35.5%), surpassing infections (30.8%), miscellaneous causes (20.6%) and malignancies (13.5%). 13 entities accounted for over 68% of diagnoses (sinusitis and occult dental infections, Q fever, Epstein-Barr virus and cytomegalovirus infections, lymphoma, colo-rectal adenocarcinoma, adult-onset Still disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, giant cell arteritis and/or polymyalgia rheumatica, rheumatoid arthritis, polyarteritis nodosa, factitious fever and habitual hyperthermia). As demonstrated in other studies, non-infectious inflammatory diseases emerge as the most prevalent diagnostic category. Giant cell arteritis and polymyalgia rheumatica were particularly frequent in the elderly. Epstein-Barr virus and cytomegalovirus infections and habitual hyperthermia were particularly frequent in the youngest patients. There were no major differences in repartition of diagnostic categories between this series and historical university series.
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PMID:Fever of unknown origin in adults: evaluation of 144 cases in a non-university hospital. 1757 41