The clinical phenotype of systemic sclerosis patients with anti-PM/Scl antibodies: results from the EUSTAR cohort.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate clinical associations of anti-PM/Scl antibodies in patients with SSc in a multicentre international cohort, with particular focus on unresolved issues, including scleroderma renal crisis (RC), malignancies, and functional outcome of interstitial lung disease (ILD). METHODS: (1) Analysis of SSc patients from the EUSTAR database: 144 anti-PM/Scl+ without SSc-specific autoantibodies were compared with 7202 anti-PM/Scl-, and then to 155 anti-Pm/Scl+ with SSc-specific antibodies. (2) Case-control study: additional data were collected for 165 anti-PM/Scl+ SSc patients (85 from the EUSTAR registry) and compared with 257 anti-PM/Scl- SSc controls, matched for sex, cutaneous subset, disease duration and age at SSc onset. RESULTS: Patients with isolated anti-PM/Scl+, as compared with anti-Pm/Scl-, had higher frequency of muscle involvement, ILD, calcinosis and cutaneous signs of DM, but similar frequency of SRC and malignancies (either synchronous with SSc onset or not). The presence of muscle involvement was associated with a more severe disease phenotype. Although very frequent, ILD had a better functional outcome in cases than in controls. In patients with both anti-PM/Scl and SSc-specific antibodies, a higher frequency of typical SSc features than in those with isolated anti-PM/Scl was observed. CONCLUSION: The analysis of the largest series of anti-PM/Scl+ SSc patients so far reported helps to delineate a specific clinical subset with muscle involvement, cutaneous DM, calcinosis and ILD characterized by a good functional outcome. SRC and malignancies do not seem to be part of this syndrome.

An observational cohort study of patients with newly diagnosed digital ulcer disease secondary to systemic sclerosis registered in the EUSTAR database.

OBJECTIVES: This study describes clinical characteristics, prognostic factors, and quality of life in patients with newly diagnosed (incident) digital ulcers (DU). METHODS: Observational cohort study of 189 consecutive SSc patients with incident DU diagnosis identified from the EUSTAR database (22 centres in 10 countries). Data were collected from medical charts and during one prospective visit between 01/2004 and 09/2010. RESULTS: Median age at DU diagnosis was 51 years, majority of patients were female (88%), and limited cutaneous SSc was the most common subtype (61%). At incident DU diagnosis, 41% of patients had one DU and 59% had ≥2 DU; at the prospective visit 52% had DU. Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and multiple DU at diagnosis were associated with presence of any DU at the prospective visit (odds ratios: 4.34 and 1.32). During the observation period (median follow-up was 2 years) 127 patients had ≥1 hospitalisation. The event rate of new DU per person-year was 0.66, of DU-associated complications was 0.10, and of surgical or diagnostic procedures was 0.12. At the prospective visit, patients with ≥1 DU reported impairment in daily activities by 57%, those with 0 DU by 37%. The mean difference between patients with or without DU in the SF-36 physical component was 2.2, and in the mental component 1.4. DU patients were not routinely prescribed endothelin receptor antagonists or prostanoids. CONCLUSIONS: This real world cohort demonstrates that DU require hospital admission, and impair daily activity. PAH and multiple DU at diagnosis were associated with future occurrence of DU.

Malignancies in Italian patients with systemic sclerosis positive for anti-RNA polymerase III antibodies.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the frequency of malignancies in Italian patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and anti-RNA polymerase III (RNAP III), antitopoisomerase I (topo I), or anticentromere antibodies (ACA); and to characterize the temporal relationship between the 2 diseases, in order to confirm data suggesting a close temporal relationship between the onset of SSc and malignancy in American patients with anti-RNAP III antibodies. METHODS: From a cohort of 466 consecutive SSc patients, 360 Italians with isolated positivity for anti-RNAP III (n = 16), anti-topo I (n = 101), or ACA (n = 243) were identified. Malignancy cases were divided according to their relationship with SSc onset into 3 categories: preceding, synchronous with, or metachronous to the onset of SSc (diagnosed more than 6 months before; 6 months before to 12 months after; and more than 12 months after onset of SSc, respectively). RESULTS: Malignancies were more frequent in the anti-RNAP III group (7/16 patients), than in the anti-topo I (11/101) and ACA groups (21/243) (p < 0.001). This difference was accounted for by the number of patients with cancer synchronous to the onset of SSc (3/16 in the anti-RNAP III group vs 0/101 in the anti-topo I and 1/243 in the ACA group; p < 0.001), whereas neither the number of malignancies preceding nor those metachronous to the onset of SSc was significantly different between the groups. CONCLUSION: In a cohort of Italian patients with SSc we observed a significant association between malignancies synchronous to SSc onset and positivity for anti-RNAP III antibodies, similar to that described in American patients with SSc.

Use of tumor necrosis factor-alpha-blocking agents in hepatitis B virus-positive patients: reports of 3 cases and review of the literature.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the development of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in patients receiving tumor necrosis factor-alpha-blocking agents (TNFBA), and to evaluate whether lamivudine (LAM) prophylaxis can reduce the risk of viral reactivation in inactive HBsAg carriers. METHODS: Local experience and published reports were reviewed. Patients with HBV infection were classified as having chronic HBV hepatitis, or being inactive HBsAg carriers or occult carriers. RESULTS: Three patients in our series and 24 patients in the literature were identified: 2 had active HBV-associated disease, 23 were inactive HBsAg carriers, and 2 occult carriers. When exposed to TNFBA, HBsAg-inactive carriers pretreated with LAM had lower risk of having detectable HBV-DNA (p=0.02) or viral reactivation (p=0.046) than those without LAM prophylaxis. In 3 patients who discontinued TNFBA, LAM prophylaxis was also discontinued 10-12 months thereafter without hepatitis flares. Two cases of reactivation in occult carriers (HBsAg-negative, anti-HBs+, anti-HBc+) were described in the literature. CONCLUSION: TNFBA should be avoided in patients with active HBV replication and should be used with caution in inactive HBsAg carriers. In these patients, the risk of viral reactivation seems to be high, but it might be reduced by prophylactic LAM, which should probably be given for a long time when TNFBA are discontinued (e.g., 12 mo). Potential occult carriers might carry a low, but not negligible, risk of viral reactivation. They should therefore be monitored with particular care.

Anti-RNA polymerase III antibodies: a marker of systemic sclerosis with rapid onset and skin thickening progression.

Anti-RNA polymerase III antibodies (ARA) are a specific marker for Systemic Sclerosis (SSc), associated to severe disease with major organ and diffuse cutaneous involvement. In our series, ARA were found in 19 of 216 sera, in 15 cases as isolated antibodies' specificity, with a statistically negative association with other SSc-specific autoantibodies (p: 0.00003). The prevalence of ARA among 73 anticentromere and anti-topoisomerase I (topo I) negative sera, was 20.5%. Patients with isolated ARA had more rapid disease onset, defined as the interval from the appearance of Raynaud's phenomenon to the first symptom other than Raynaud's, than patients with isolated anti-topo I antibodies (median: 2 months vs 13 months; p: 0.0013). A rapid onset of SSc (within 6 months from Raynaud's phenomenon onset) was found in all patients with isolated ARA and only in 34% of those with anti-topo I (p<0.00001). Moreover, the skin thickening in the first months after SSc onset was faster in the ARA group (p<0.0001). Nevertheless, the rates of internal organ involvement and of survival rates were similar between the two groups. Our experience therefore suggests that ARA are a marker of very rapid onset of disease and skin thickening progression in SSc.

Lupus and the antiphospholipid syndrome in pregnancy and obstetrics: clinical characteristics, diagnosis, pathogenesis, and treatment.

The antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) in pregnancy is associated with repeated miscarriages and fetal loss. Other complications of pregnancy such as preeclampsia and placental insufficiency are also frequently reported during pregnancy in APS. The pathogenesis of pregnancy failures in APS is related to both the thrombophilic effect of antiphospholipid antibodies and also to different mechanisms including a direct effect of antibodies on trophoblast differentiation and invasion. Although optimal pharmacologic treatment is essential to achieve a successful outcome in APS pregnancy, the standard APS pharmacologic treatment alone may not be sufficient. A good obstetric outcome is the result of careful obstetric monitoring, proper delivery timing, and skillful neonatal care. A multidisciplinary team (obstetricians, rheumatologists, and neonatologists) and the progress in neonatal intensive care are as important as drugs in achieving a good obstetric outcome and to reduce the possible consequences of premature delivery.