HLA-DRB1 status affects endothelial function in treated patients with rheumatoid arthritis

HLA–DRB1 and persistent chronic inflammation contribute to cardiovascular events and cardiovascular mortality in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

“…Plain radiographs of the hands and feet were obtained at least every 3 years. Larsen radiographic score (22) and HLA-DRB1 typing (22,23,25) were performed as previously reported.…”

“…Also, regarding medication, patients with RA from northwest Spain requiring treatment with cyclosporin A because of severe disease and incomplete response to methotrexate (MTX) were significantly more likely to have HLA-DRB1*04 shared epitope alleles than patients not requiring such treatment (21). In the same population, endothelial dysfunction, an early step in the development of atherosclerosis, was more commonly observed in patients with RA positive for HLA-DRB1*04 shared epitope who had long disease duration, particularly in those carrying the HLA-DRB1*0404 allele (22,23). Taking all these considerations into account, in the present study we sought to determine the potential contribution of epidemiologic features, clinical features, routine laboratory markers of inflammation, and HLA-DRB1 alleles to CV mortality and CV events in a cohort of patients with RA who were prospectively followed at the referral center for an area of northwest Spain.…”

Fluvastatin reverses endothelial dysfunction and increased vascular oxidative stress in rat adjuvant‐induced arthritis

“…Endothelial dysfunction, which represents the earliest stage of atherosclerosis, has been observed in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with high inflammatory activity, suggesting that this dysfunction contributes to the increased cardiovascular mortality in this disease (1)(2)(3). Although the pathophysiologic mechanism is not fully understood, mounting evidence of an association between atherosclerosis and inflammation suggests that systemic inflammation in RA may be involved in the early stages of vascular damage (4-6).…”

“…In accordance with the data shown in Figure 2, spontaneous production of O 2 Ϫ was significantly (P Ͻ 0.05) greater in the aortas of rats with AIA than in those of normal rats, whereas this increase was not observed in the aortas of rats with AIA treated with fluvastatin. Incubation of aortas of rats with AIA with NADH resulted in a significant increase in O 2 -production compared with that in aortas incubated without substrate (P Ͻ 0.05). The NADH-induced increase in O 2 -production was not observed in the samples from rats with AIA treated with fluvastatin.…”

Kardiovaskuläre Manifestationen bei Rheumatoider Arthritis

“…Mehrere Untersuchungen stellten eine Assoziation dieser krankheitsrelevanten HLA-Genotypen mit vaskulären Manifestationen einschließlich einer endothelialen Funktionsstörung heraus [66]. Aufgrund des nicht geklärten Charakters dieser Assoziationen sind diese Ergebnisse jedoch kritisch zu bewerten [67].…”