Z Rheumatol. 2009 May;68(3):228-33 Authors: David JP, Zwerina J, Schett G While one of the major achievements of the 20th century was prolonging life expectancy in developed countries, the main challenge of the 21st century is to improve the quality of life of the aging population. Aging is associated with a progressive reduction of organ…

J Control Release. 2009 Sep 15;138(3):225-34 Authors: Gabriel D, Busso N, So A, van den Bergh H, Gurny R, Lange N Protease-sensitive macromolecular prodrugs have attracted interest for bio-responsive drug delivery to sites with up-regulated proteolytic activities such as inflammatory or cancerous lesions. Here we report the development of a novel polymeric photosensitizer prodrug (T-PS)…

Mod Rheumatol. 2009;19(4):372-8 Authors: Kageyama Y, Kobayashi H, Kato N, Shimazu M This study was performed to analyze the effect of etanercept, the soluble tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) receptor, on the serum levels of several chemokines including monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), regulated upon activation normal T expressed and presumably secreted (RANTES), and granzyme B in…

Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2009 Mar-Apr;27(2):246-52 Authors: Torigoshi T, Motokawa S, Miyashita T, Maeda Y, Koga T, Nakamura M, Komori A, Aiba Y, Uemura T, Yatsuhashi H, Ishibashi H, Eguchi K, Shindo H, Migita K OBJECTIVE: The immunosuppressant tacrolimus is known to enhance many aspects of glucocorticoid. In this study, we investigated the effects of tacrolimus…

Med Hypotheses. 2009 Nov;73(5):651-4 Authors: McQueen FM, Dalbeth N The JAK2 [V617F] mutation has recently been recognised as critical to the pathogenesis of the myeloproliferative disorders (MPDs). Thus, a common mutation affecting a haematopoietic precursor stem cell is capable of giving rise to diverse clinical phenotypes. In this hypothesis paper, we propose that a similar…

J Immunol. 2009 Jun 15;182(12):8015-25 Authors: Kanayama M, Kurotaki D, Morimoto J, Asano T, Matsui Y, Nakayama Y, Saito Y, Ito K, Kimura C, Iwasaki N, Suzuki K, Harada T, Li HM, Uehara J, Miyazaki T, Minami A, Kon S, Uede T Osteopontin is critically involved in rheumatoid arthritis; however, the molecular cross-talk between osteopontin…

Rheumatology (Oxford). 2009 Jun;48 Suppl 3:iii54-7 Authors: Guillevin L Vasculitis can occur either as a primary condition or secondary to CTDs, infection, medication or malignancy. This article reviews the clinical presentation and management of vascular disease associated with SLE and SS, as well as the primary necrotizing vasculitides. Although pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) has traditionally…

Mod Rheumatol. 2009;19(4):379-83 Authors: Nanke Y, Kawamoto M, Yago T, Chiba J, Yamanaka H, Kotake S Fluvastatin (Fluv) is reported to induce apoptosis in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) synoviocytes through the blocking of protein geranylgeranylation. We report here our investigation of whether geranylgeranylacetone (GGA) induces cell death in RA synoviocytes. Synovial tissues were obtained from patients…

Rheumatology (Oxford). 2009 Oct;48(10):1185-9 Authors: Bouffi C, Djouad F, Mathieu M, Noël D, Jorgensen C Multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) have raised interest mainly because of cartilage/bone differentiation potential which is now partly eclipsed by their capacity to counteract inflammation and suppress host immune responses as well as to prevent fibrosis. MSCs have been identified…

Nat Rev Rheumatol. 2009 Jul;5(7):392-9 Authors: Djouad F, Bouffi C, Ghannam S, Noël D, Jorgensen C Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), or multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells as they are also known, have been identified in bone marrow as well as in other tissues of the joint, including adipose, synovium, periosteum, perichondrium, and cartilage. These cells are…