Planned Yellow Fever Primary Vaccination Is Safe and Immunogenic in Patients With Autoimmune Diseases: A Prospective Non-interventional Study.

Yellow Fever (YF) vaccination is suggested to induce a large number of adverse events (AE) and suboptimal responses in patients with autoimmune diseases (AID); however, there have been no studies on 17DD-YF primary vaccination performance in patients with AID. This prospective non-interventional study conducted between March and July, 2017 assessed the safety and immunogenicity of planned 17DD-YF primary vaccination in patients with AID. Adult patients with AID (both sexes) were enrolled, along with healthy controls, at a single hospital (Vitória, Brazil). Included patients were referred for planned vaccination by a rheumatologist; in remission, or with low disease activity; and had low level immunosuppression or the attending physician advised interruption of immunosuppression for safety reasons. The occurrence of AE, neutralizing antibody kinetics, seropositivity rates, and 17DD-YF viremia were evaluated at various time points (day 0 (D0), D3, D4, D5, D6, D14, and D28). Individuals evaluated (n = 278), including patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA; 79), spondyloarthritis (SpA; 59), systemic sclerosis (8), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE; 27), primary Sjögren's syndrome (SS; 54), and healthy controls (HC; 51). Only mild AE were reported. The frequency of local and systemic AE in patients with AID and HC did not differ significantly (8 vs. 10% and 21 vs. 32%; p = 1.00 and 0.18, respectively). Patients with AID presented late seroconversion profiles according to kinetic timelines of the plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT). PRNT-determined virus titers (copies/mL) [181 (95% confidence interval (CI), 144-228) vs. 440 (95% CI, 291-665), p = 0.004] and seropositivity rate (78 vs. 96%, p = 0.01) were lower in patients with AID after 28 days, particularly those with SpA (73%) and SLE (73%), relative to HC. The YF viremia peak (RNAnemia) was 5-6 days after vaccination in all groups. In conclusion, consistent seroconversion rates were observed in patients with AID and our findings support that planned 17DD-YF primary vaccination is safe and immunogenic in patients with AID.

Clinical and laboratory features of overlap syndromes of idiopathic inflammatory myopathies associated with systemic lupus erythematosus, systemic sclerosis, or rheumatoid arthritis.

Because overlap syndromes (OSs) are rarely described, we analyzed retrospectively their frequencies and correlations in Brazilian series of 31 patients with dermatomyositis (DM)/polymyositis (PM) associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), systemic sclerosis (SSc), or rheumatoid arthritis (RA) attended at a referral single center. Myositis-specific autoantibodies (MSAs: anti-Jo-1, anti-PL-7, anti-PL-12, anti-EJ, anti-OJ, anti-SRP, anti-Mi-2) and myositis-associated autoantibodies (MAAs: anti-PM-Scl75, anti-PM-Scl100, anti-Ku) as well as specific autoantibodies related to SLE, SSc, and RA were investigated. The mean age of the OS patients (9 DM and 22 PM) was 44.6 ± 15.4 years, with a predominance of women (83.9 %) and white ethnicity (58.1 %). PM was the most frequent inflammatory myopathy, and the clinical presentation of DM/PM was significantly different among the OS groups. Overlap was found with SSc (48.4 %), SLE (29.0 %), and RA (22.6 %). The clinical manifestations of DM/PM were identified simultaneously with SSc and RA in the majority of cases, in contrast to identification in the SLE group (p < 0.05). All patients were positive for antinuclear antibodies, and the prevalence of MSA and MAA was 38.8 % in all OS groups, mutually exclusive, and more frequent in the SSc group. Comparing the clinical and laboratory features, there was a higher frequency of vascular (skin ulcers, Raynaud's phenomenon) and pulmonary (interstitial lung disease) involvement in the SSc group (p < 0.05). Moreover, there were no differences among the groups in relation to disease relapse and deaths. Concluding, this is the first study to show the different characteristics of a series of patients with connective tissue disease (CTD)-OS in the heterogeneous Brazilian population.