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Ann Rheum Dis 2021 Feb 18. Epub 2021 Feb 18.

Department of Rheumatology, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

Animal models for inflammatory arthritides such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriatic arthritis are widely accepted and frequently used to identify pathological mechanisms and validate novel therapeutic strategies. Unfortunately, many publications reporting on these animal studies lack detailed description and appropriate assessment of the distinct histopathological features of arthritis: joint inflammation, cartilage damage and bone erosion. Therefore, the European consortium BeTheCure, consisting of 38 academic and industrial partners from 15 countries, set as goal to standardise the histological evaluation of joint sections from animal models of inflammatory arthritis. Read More

Exp Cell Res 2021 Jan 24;398(1):112404. Epub 2020 Nov 24.

Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine, and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, West Yanta Road No.76, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710061, China; National & Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Biodiagnostics and Biotherapy, Second Affiliated Hospital, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710004, China; Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases (Xi'an Jiaotong University), Ministry of Education, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.

Pristane-induced arthritis (PIA) could be adoptively transferred by splenic T cells in rats, and innate immunity should play critical roles in T cell activation. However, in pre-clinical stage, the activation mechanism of innate cells like macrophages remains unclear. Here we found that PIA was dependent on macrophages since cell depletion alleviated disease severity. Read More

Methods Mol Biol 2021 ;2225:241-255

Centers for Personalized Diagnostics and for Immunotherapy, Vaccines and Virotherapy, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multifactorial and heterogeneous autoimmune disease involving multiple organ systems and tissues. Lupus nephritis occurs in approximately 60% of patients with SLE and is the leading cause of morbidity. Diffuse alveolar hemorrhage (DAH) is a rare but very serious complication of SLE with a greater than 50% associated mortality. Read More

Antioxidants (Basel) 2020 Oct 16;9(10). Epub 2020 Oct 16.

Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.

Reactive oxygen species have been involved in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Our goal was to determine the effects of selectively scavenging superoxide (O) and hydroxyl radicals with antioxidant nanoparticles, called poly(ethylene glycol)-functionalized hydrophilic carbon clusters (PEG-HCCs), on the pathogenic functions of fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and on the progression of an animal model of RA. We used human FLS from patients with RA to determine PEG-HCC internalization and effects on FLS cytotoxicity, invasiveness, proliferation, and production of proteases. Read More

Front Immunol 2020 24;11:554725. Epub 2020 Sep 24.

Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, United States.

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease in which type I interferons (IFN) play a key role. The IFN response can be triggered when oxidized DNA engages the cytosolic DNA sensing platform cGAS-STING, but the repair mechanisms that modulate this process and govern disease progression are unclear. To gain insight into this biology, we interrogated the role of oxyguanine glycosylase 1 (OGG1), which repairs oxidized guanine 8-Oxo-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OH-dG), in the pristane-induced mouse model of SLE. Read More