Identification of interleukin-17 (IL-17) as a powerful proinflammatory cytokine and the recent recognition of a T-helper cell subset that secretes it have focused attention on the role of IL-17 and…
Understanding the pathogenesis of joint inflammation and destruction in rheumatoid arthritis involves dissection of the cellular and molecular interactions that occur in synovial tissue. Development of effective targeted therapies has…
The purpose of this article is to place these genetic discoveries in the context of current and future therapeutic strategies for patients with RA. More specifically, this article focuses on…
Innate immunity, with macrophages playing a central role, is critically important in the pathogenesis of RA. Although environmental insults such as smoking have been implicated in the initiation of rheumatoid…
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) likely develops in several phases, beginning with genetic risk, followed by asymptomatic autoimmunity, then finally, clinically apparent disease. Investigating the phases of disease that exist prior to…
Quantitative clinical monitoring of musculoskeletal conditions and inflammatory joint diseases is challenging. Traditional measures to assess rheumatoid arthritis (RA), such as joint assessment, laboratory, imaging, and patient self-report measures, have…
The introduction of cyclophosphamide for treatment and the detection of antineutrophil cytoplasmatic antibodies (ANCA) as a seromarker for ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) have been the most important milestones in the history…
The outcome in patients with antineutrophil cytoplasm antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis has considerably improved with the use of potent immunosuppression. In the most severe cases, mortality remains an important risk despite…
Pauci-immune necrotizing glomerulonephritis is the most frequent cause of rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis and, in most cases, is associated with antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA). It is either the renal manifestation of…
The antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitides—Wegener’s granulomatosis, microscopic polyangiitis, and Churg-Strauss syndrome—can present with various ophthalmic manifestations. In a subset of patients, these findings may be the earliest indicators of…
