Psoriatic Arthritis (Pa): A Clinical, Immunological and Radiological Study of 180 Patients

Tumour necrosis factor (TNF) in psoriatic arthritis: pathophysiology and treatment with TNF inhibitors

“…In one prospective study, 57% of patients were found to have erosive arthritis, resulting in moderate to severe functional impairment in 19%, at the time of referral to the rheumatology clinic. 9 Inflammation early in the course of the disease appears to be a significant predictor of disease progression. A 14 year prospective study found that a high number of effusions upon first presentation at a PsA clinic correlated with future progression of joint damage, and a low erythrocyte sedimentation rate correlated with little disease progression.…”

“…8 One study showed that 57% of patients had erosive arthritis, and 19% displayed moderate to severe functional impairment. 9 The pathogenesis of PsA remains unclear; however, evidence suggests that disease progression is predicted by significant inflammation early in the course of the disease. 10 …”

Efficacy and safety of leflunomide in the treatment of psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis: A multinational, double‐blind, randomized, placebo‐controlled clinical trial

“…It is likely that PsA is underdiagnosed (4), and thus, the true prevalence may be higher. PsA is associated with significant disability, increased mortality, and reduced quality of life (5)(6)(7)(8). Pathophysiologically, PsA is characterized by the presence of activated T cells, particularly in joint fluids and synovial tissues (9,10).…”

Genetics of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis

“…Among the first ones, HLA-B13, B17/Cw6, B16 with his splits B38 and B39 (the last one is also associated with disease progression) and B27 are included; among class II alleles, DR7 and DR4 are implicated (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17). The presence of two susceptibility alleles, have been shown to confer an additional risk; this has been demonstrated for Cw1 and B17 when associated with B27 in the spondylitic subset (15). It has to be point out that the associations of the single HLA alleles are often restricted to specific clinical PsA subsets rather than PsA as a whole.…”

“…Furthermore some associations, or the statistical significance of them, which have been found in some populations were not confirmed in studies performed on different ethnic groups. On this regard we focus on the association of B13, B17/Cw6 and DR7 with the oligoarticular asymmetric subset (11,(13)(14)(15), as well as B16 and his splits B38 and B39. Similarly, DR4 has been associated with the peripheral symmetric polyarticular subset (9,10,12,13,17) while B27 has been classically linked with the axial sacroiliitis involvement (15,18), expecially in bilateral sacroiliitis (19), with the exception of the population in Israel where this association has not been observed (20).…”