Scleroderma

African Americans have more severe complications from systemic sclerosis, also known as scleroderma, than Caucasians. Findings published today in, Arthritis & Rheumatism, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), show that compared with Caucasians, African-American patients were more likely to have antibodies that increased frequency and severity of pulmonary fibrosis, which is associated with decreased survival.

According to the ACR there are 49,000 adult American diagnosed with systemic

Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSCs) activate a mechanism involving coupling of FAS/FAS ligand to induce T cell apoptosis and immune tolerance, according to an experimental study published online April 26 in Cell Stem Cell.

To investigate the mechanisms underlying the therapeutic benefit of BMMSCs in autoimmune disease, Kentaro Akiyama, D.D.S., Ph.D., from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and colleagues infused BMMSCs into mice.

The researchers found that, in mice models of systemic sclerosis or experimental colitis, infusion of BMMSCs induced T cell apoptosis via the FAS ligand-dependent FAS pathway, and reduced symptoms of the disease.

The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) has issued newly created guidelines for the screening, treatment, and management of lupus nephritis—a severe manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) where the disease attacks the kidneys. Previously, only general guidelines for SLE existed for clinicians. The guidelines, available today in Arthritis Care & Research, are specific to lupus nephritis and include methods for identifying renal disease, newer therapies, and treatment of pregnant SLE patients with kidney involvement.

The ACR estimates that up to 322,000 adult Americans are diagnosed with SLE, a chronic autoimmune disease that causes inflammation, fatigue, joint pain, and organ damage. Lupus nephritis is one of the most serious complications of SLE where inflammation of the kidney could lead to renal failure. Medical evidence suggests that 35% of adults in the U.S. have evidence of nephritis at the time of SLE diagnosis, and up to 60% develop kidney involvement during the first 10 years with the disease.

Management of systemic sclerosis is likely to improve as soon as an ongoing convergence of mechanistic insights, improved understanding of clinical trial design, and interest by industry results in new treatments, according to Dr. Robert F. Spiera.

Of particular note are recent trials, with both positive and negative results, of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) and autologous stem cell transplantation, he said at a rheumatology meeting sponsored by New York University. Even while awaiting a big breakthrough in treatment, "we can now do a lot for our patients with Scleroderma," said Dr. Spiera, director of the Scleroderma and Vasculitis Center at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.

A researcher at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) is studying a novel cell therapy that could help avoid autoimmune problems after stem cell transplantation, as well as potentially treat other autoimmune diseases.

The preclinical study, funded with a $1.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), is being conducted in collaboration with the NIH and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

The therapy centers on regulatory T cells, which are central to the control of autoimmunity in the body. Dat Tran, M.D., assistant professor in the Pediatric Research Center at the UTHealth Medical School, said the therapy could help prevent graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), an autoimmune disorder that occurs in up to 80 percent of cancer patients receiving bone marrow stem cell transplants. It could also potentially treat other autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes.

For centuries, spices have been used as medicines. Today their healing potential is again being rediscovered, especially curcumin. In one recent medical study, curcumin was found to be better than conventional medications at relieving the pain associated with rheumatoid arthritis.

Curcumin is derived from the spice turmeric. Turmeric is a member of the ginger plant family. The ginger family is comprised of more than 1,300 members and many are considered medicinal plants including ginger, turmeric, melegueta pepper and cardamom.

Atherosclerosis is when plaque builds up in the arteries; and it can cause serious problems in the heart. However new strategies are helping patients combat atherosclerosis; and could change the treatment landscape of heart disease, all together.

It was in the early 1990s that identification of antibodies against oxidized low density lipoproteins (LDL) in artery plaques, first gave rise to the concept that cardiovascular disease (CVD) might be an autoimmune disease where the immune system attacks oxidized LDL. To test this hypothesis Nilsson, a professor of Experimental Cardiovascular Research at Lund University, Sweden, and a key player in the development of immune treatments, and colleagues conducted experiments immunizing rabbits with high blood cholesterol with their own oxidized LDL.

Individuals who suffer from autoimmune diseases also display a tendency to develop atherosclerosis – the condition popularly known as hardening of the arteries. Clinical researchers at LMU, in collaboration with colleagues in Würzburg, have now discovered a mechanism which helps to explain the connection between the two types of disorder. The link is provided by a specific class of immune cells called plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs).

pDCs respond to DNA released from damaged and dying cells by secreting interferon proteins which stimulate the immune reactions that underlie

A viral infection may help combat lupus. The mouse version of a virus thought to be a prime suspect in the disease, the Epstein-Barr virus, actually prevents certain features of the autoimmune disease, a study in mice shows.

“It might be that this virus has positive effects,” says study author Roberta Pelanda of the National Jewish Health hospital and the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine. “We really don’t know what these chronic viruses do to the immune system.” Pelanda and her colleagues describe the findings online April 2 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.