Table of contents
December 2006 Volume 2 No 12
Editorial
Viewpoints
Opioid therapy for the treatment of refractory pain in children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis
636Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis is one of the most common chronic diseases of childhood. In this Viewpoint, Dr Connelly and Dr Schanberg discuss the limited knowledge regarding the widespread occurrence of pain in children with arthritis. Research into treatment with opioids in these patients has fostered clinical myths inhibiting optimum patient care.
New immune modulatory drugs for systemic lupus erythematosus—what can we expect?
638Systemic lupus erythematosus is a disease triggered by environmental factors in individuals with a genetically predetermined alteration of the threshold for induction or maintenance of immune tolerance. In this Viewpoint, Professor Davidson discusses the immune activation pathways involved in systemic lupus erythematosus, and highlights the importance of understanding these pathways and their role in disease activity.
Research Highlights
Evidence that hand osteoarthritis is linked with comorbidities
640Ethnic variation in MTHFR polymorphisms in patients with RA
640Genetic versus socioeconomic causes of ESRF in black patients with lupus nephritis
640No evidence of a link between ankylosing spondylitis and lymphoma
641Phase II clinical trial results of chaperonin 10 in patients with RA
641Long-term results of rituximab therapy in patients with SLE and vasculitis
642Long-term glucocorticoid use linked with high mortality in patients with RA
642Extremity MRI shows promise for prediction of early joint damage in RA
642Ethnicity and socioeconomic factors predict SLE activity level
643Modifiable cardiovascular risk factors should be targeted in patients with RA
643Patients with RA show altered renal clearance of nitric oxide catabolites
644Dramatic ethnic differences in UK prevalence of lupus nephritis
645Practice Points
Anakinra for the treatment of neonatal-onset multisystem inflammatory disease
646Do genetic variations in the adenosine pathway affect patient response to methotrexate?
648Does diuretic use increase the risk of recurrent gout flares?
650Reviews
Drug Insight: abatacept for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis
654Targeting the co-stimulatory signals that accompany antigen-derived signals involved in the activation of T cells represents a possible therapeutic approach for patients with rheumatoid arthritis. This Review focuses on abatacept, a fusion protein that interrupts the co-stimulatory signal mediated through the CD28–CD80/CD86 pathway, and discusses its proposed mechanism of action and outlines data from clinical trials in rheumatoid arthritis.
doi:10.1038/ncprheum0345 | Full Text | PDF (178K)
Mechanisms of Disease: pathogenesis and treatment of ANCA-associated vasculitides
661The presence of antibodies against neutrophil cytoplasmic constituents (antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies) is a characteristic of pauci immune vasculitides. A pathogenic role for antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies in Wegener's granulomatosis and microscopic polyangiitis, and recent therapeutic developments, are outlined in this Review.
doi:10.1038/ncprheum0355 | Full Text | PDF (315K)
Mechanisms of Disease: genetics of fibromyalgia
671The etiology of fibromyalgia, a syndrome characterized by widespread persistent pain, is unclear. In this article, evidence for familial aggregation, and hence a genetic basis, is outlined. There are significant associations between the incidence of fibromyalgia and polymorphisms in genes encoding components of pain transmission and processing pathways.
doi:10.1038/ncprheum0349 | Full Text | PDF (163K)
Mechanisms of Disease: the role of immune cells in the pathogenesis of systemic sclerosis
679Research into the pathogenesis of systemic scleroderma has highlighted the important role for activated immune cells in this process. These cells and the soluble mediators they produce, therefore, represent logical targets for therapeutic intervention in this disease, as discussed in this Review.
doi:10.1038/ncprheum0346 | Full Text | PDF (217K)
Case Study
A case of polymyalgia rheumatica, microscopic polyangiitis, and B-cell lymphoma
686doi:10.1038/ncprheum0352 | Full Text | PDF (400K)
