Literature on Psoriatic Arthritis

Related ArticlesAutoimmune disease concomitance among inflammatory bowel disease patients in the United States, 2001-2002.

Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2008 Jun;14(6):738-43

Authors: Cohen R, Robinson D, Paramore C, Fraeman K, Renahan K, Bala M

BACKGROUND: Recent studies suggest that inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) may share an underlying pathogenesis with other autoimmune diseases. METHODS: Two United States data sets with patient-level medical and drug claims were used to explore the occurrence of autoimmune diseases in patients with IBD, particularly Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), with that in controls. From 2001 to 2002 IBD patients were identified using International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision, diagnosis codes in the IMS Health Integrated Administration Claims Database and the Market Scan Commercial Claims and Encounters Database. Controls were selected by matching on sex, age, Census Bureau region, and length of previous medical insurance coverage. Odds ratios (ORs) evaluated the risk relationship between IBD patients and controls within an estimated Mantel-Haenszel 95% confidence interval. Sensitivity analysis tested the case identification method used to select IBD patients. RESULTS: The risk for ankylosing spondylitis (AS) was substantially increased across both data sets: OR (95% confidence interval [CI]) of 7.8 (5.6-10.8) in IMS Health and 5.8 (3.9-8.6) in MarketScan. The risk for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was 2.7 (2.4-3.0) and 2.1 (1.8-2.3), respectively; for multiple sclerosis (MS); the ORs were 1.5 (1.2-1.9) and 1.6 (1.2-2.1), respectively. There was no increased risk for type 1 diabetes mellitus, and the results for psoriatic arthritis (PsA) were inconsistent. The sensitivity analysis supported these findings. CONCLUSIONS: A much higher risk for RA, AS, PsA, and MS was observed in IBD patients compared with controls. Prospective epidemiologic studies are needed to confirm these findings and explore the pathogenic mechanism of this relationship.

PMID: 18300281 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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Related ArticlesIntra and extravascular transmembrane signalling of angiopoietin-1-Tie2 receptor in health and disease.

J Cell Mol Med. 2008 Jun;12(3):810-28

Authors: Makinde T, Agrawal DK

Angiopoietin-1 (Ang-1) is the primary agonist for Tie2 tyrosine kinase receptor (Tie2), and the effect of Ang-1-Tie2 signalling is context-dependent. Deficiency in either Ang-1 or Tie2 protein leads to severe microvascular defects and subsequent embryonic lethality in murine model. Tie2 receptors are expressed in several cell types, including endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, fibroblasts, epithelial cells, monocytes, neutrophils, eosinophils and glial cells. Ang-1-Tie2 signalling induces a chemotactic effect in smooth muscle cells, neutrophils and eosinophils, and induces differentiation of mesenchymal cells to smooth muscle cells. Additionally, this signalling pathway induces the secretion of serotonin, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and plasmin. Ang-1 inhibits the secretion of tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase (TIMPs). Aberrant expression and activity of Tie2 in vascular and non-vascular cells may result in the development of rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, hypertension and psoriasis. Ang-1 has an anti-inflammatory effect, when co-localized with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the vasculature. Thus, Ang-1 could be potentially important in the therapy of various pathological conditions such as pulmonary hypertension, arteriosclerosis and diabetic retinopathy. In this article, we have summarized and critically reviewed the pathophysiological role of Ang-1-Tie2 signalling pathway.

PMID: 18266978 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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Related ArticlesComputer-assisted validation of the synovitis score.

Virchows Arch. 2008 Jun;452(6):667-73

Authors: Morawietz L, Schaeper F, Schroeder JH, Gansukh T, Baasanjav N, Krukemeyer MG, Gehrke T, Krenn V

Histopathological examination of synovial specimens can contribute to the diagnosis of chronic joint diseases. A so-called synovitis score has been introduced as a standardised grading system, based on the semi-quantitative evaluation of the three determining features of chronic synovitis: enlargement of synovial lining, density of synovial stroma and inflammatory infiltrate, giving a score between 0 and 9. The present study examines the reliability of this procedure by comparison with exact measurements using computer-assisted image analysis (CAIA). Seventy-one synovial specimens from patients with osteoarthritis (OA, n=22), psoriatic arthritis (PsA, n=7), rheumatoid arthritis (RA, n=35) and from a control group (Co, n=7) were evaluated using both the synovitis score and CAIA. The measurements were transformed to semi-quantitative values analogous to the synovitis score. The differences between the transformed CAIA scores and the pathologist’s scores were 0 or +/-1 in 40 cases, whereas in 31 cases the difference was greater than 1 (correlation coefficient r=0.725). The CAIA scores differed significantly between Co and RA cases (p=0.000) as well as between OA and RA (p=0.000). We conclude that the synovitis score was validated by CAIA and can be regarded a reliable grading system that contributes to the diagnostic procedure of chronic joint inflammation.

PMID: 18283490 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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