Maintenance of Remission After Tocilizumab Withdrawal in Patients With Glucocorticoid-Dependent Polymyalgia Rheumatica.

Objective: The SEMAPHORE trial evaluated the efficacy and safety of tocilizumab (TCZ) treatment in patients with glucocorticoid (GC)-dependent polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). TCZ reduced GC dose and disease activity at week 24. This study aimed to assess relapse rates after stopping TCZ treatment in patients achieving remission at week 24.

Impact of Sjögren's disease on quality of sexual life using the Qualisex score.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the impact of Sjögren disease (SjD) on the quality of sexual life and its determinants using the Qualisex questionnaire.

Methods: The Qualisex questionnaire was administered to participants within the ASSESS cohort, a French national multicentric prospective cohort of individuals with SjD. Patients' characteristics and psychometric evaluations were also collected.

Distinct Pathophysiologic Pathways Support Stratification of Sjögren's Disease Based on Symptoms, Clinical, and Routine Biological Data.

Objective: Recently, three distinct phenotypes of patients with Sjögren disease (SjD) have been described based on cluster analysis: B cell active with low symptoms (BALS), high systemic activity (HSA), and low systemic activity with high symptoms (LSAHS). We aimed to assess whether these clusters were associated with distinct biomarkers and the prognostic value of interferon (IFN) signature.

Methods: The Assessment of Systemic Signs and Evolution in Sjögren's Syndrome cohort is a 20-year prospective cohort of patients with SjD.

Identification of distinct subgroups of Sjögren's disease by cluster analysis based on clinical and biological manifestations: data from the cross-sectional Paris-Saclay and the prospective ASSESS cohorts.

Background: Sjögren's disease is a heterogenous autoimmune disease with a wide range of symptoms-including dryness, fatigue, and pain-in addition to systemic manifestations and an increased risk of lymphoma. We aimed to identify distinct subgroups of the disease, using cluster analysis based on subjective symptoms and clinical and biological manifestations, and to compare the prognoses of patients in these subgroups.

Methods: This study included patients with Sjögren's disease from two independent cohorts in France: the cross-sectional Paris-Saclay cohort and the prospective Assessment of Systemic Signs and Evolution of Sjögren's Syndrome (ASSESS) cohort.

Towards the Lowest Efficacious Dose: Results From a Multicenter Noninferiority Randomized Open-Label Controlled Trial Assessing Tocilizumab or Abatacept Injection Spacing in Rheumatoid Arthritis in Remission.

Objective: We assess the clinical and structural impact at two years of progressively spacing tocilizumab (TCZ) or abatacept (ABA) injections versus maintenance at full dose in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in sustained remission.

Methods: This multicenter open-label noninferiority (NI) randomized clinical trial included patients with established rheumatoid arthritis in sustained remission receiving ABA or TCZ at a stable dose. Patients were randomized to treatment maintenance (M) at full dose (M-arm) or progressive injection spacing (S) driven by the Disease Activity Score in 28 joints every 3 months up to biologics discontinuation (S-arm).

Association Between Bruton's Tyrosine Kinase Gene Overexpression and Risk of Lymphoma in Primary Sjögren's Syndrome.

Objective: We undertook this study to analyze whole blood gene expression and to investigate the role of B cell genes in primary Sjögren's syndrome-related non-Hodgkin lymphoma (primary SS-NHL).

Methods: Peripheral whole blood samples were collected from 345 well-phenotyped patients with primary SS enrolled in the prospective Assessment of Systemic Signs and Evolution in Sjögren's Syndrome (ASSESS) cohort. Transcriptomic analysis was performed using human Clariom S Arrays (Affymetrix).

Development and Validation of a Self-Administered Questionnaire Measuring Essential Knowledge in Patients With Axial Spondyloarthritis.

Objective: To develop and validate a patient knowledge questionnaire regarding axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA).

Methods: Knowledge considered essential for patients with axSpA was identified through Delphi rounds among rheumatologists, healthcare professionals (HCPs), and patients, then reformulated to develop the knowledge questionnaire. Cross-sectional validation was performed in 14 rheumatology departments to assess internal validity (Kuder-Richardson coefficient), external validity, acceptability, reproducibility (Lin concordance correlation coefficient), and sensitivity to change (knowledge score before vs after patient education sessions and effect size).

Efficacy of a nurse-led patient education intervention in promoting safety skills of patients with inflammatory arthritis treated with biologics: a multicentre randomised clinical trial.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of a nurse-led patient education on safety skills of patients with inflammatory arthritis treated with biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs).

Methods: This is a multicentre, open-labelled, randomised controlled trial comparing an intervention group (face-to-face education by a nurse at baseline and 3 months later) with a control group (usual care) at the introduction of a first subcutaneous bDMARD. The primary outcome was score on the BioSecure questionnaire at 6 months (0-100 scale), a validated questionnaire assessing competencies in dealing with fever, infections, vaccination and daily situations.

Sacroiliac joint in sarcoidosis on computed tomography: a monocentric retrospective study (SISTER).

Sacroiliitis and spondyloarthritis (SpA) have been associated to sarcoidosis. Sarcoidosis bone involvement of the sacral or iliac bones has been reported to mimic SpA. We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of structural sacroiliitis and structural changes of the sacroiliac joints (SIJ) in patients with sarcoidosis by abdominal-pelvic computed tomography (AP-CT).

Ultrasound Classification of Finger Pulp Blood Flow in Patients With Systemic Sclerosis: A Pilot Study.

Objective: To define a semiquantitative classification of finger pulp blood flow (FPBF) and to evaluate whether this classification could be used to assess FPBF in healthy controls and in systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients.

Methods: Thirty controls and 86 SSc patients were consecutively included. A classification of FPBF including 5 grades (from grade 0 [no signal] to 4 [signal detected on the entire finger pulp, including the subepidermal vascular network]) was evaluated.

Rheumatological features of Whipple disease.

Whipple disease (WD) is a rare infectious systemic disease. Rheumatologists are at the frontline of WD diagnosis due to the early rheumatological manifestations. An early diagnosis is crucial, as usual anti-rheumatic drugs, especially TNF inhibitors, may worsen the disease course.

Diagnostic Performances of Ultrasound Evaluation of Major Salivary Glands According to the 2019 Outcome Measures in Rheumatology Ultrasound Scoring System.

Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of ultrasound examination of the salivary glands (US-SG) according to the 2019 Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT) US scoring system for Sjögren's syndrome (SS).

Methods: The present work was a retrospective study based on a multicentric cohort with SS/sicca syndrome. The American College of Rheumatology (ACR)/European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR) 2016 classification criteria for SS (a score of ≥4 without ocular staining score), the American-European Consensus Group (AECG) 2002 classification criteria, and clinician experts were considered as reference standards for diagnosis of SS.

Interleukin 6 receptor inhibition in primary Sjögren syndrome: a multicentre double-blind randomised placebo-controlled trial.

Objectives: No immunomodulatory drug has been approved for primary Sjögren's syndrome, a systemic autoimmune disease affecting 0.1% of the population. To demonstrate the efficacy of targeting interleukin 6 receptor in patients with Sjögren's syndrome-related systemic complications.

Definition of B cell helper T cells in rheumatoid arthritis and their behavior during treatment.

Background: Immunopathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is not yet clearly defined. Besides known B-cell involvement, RA development and evolution involves CD4 T helper cell homeostasis dysregulation. Imbalance between Th17 cells and regulatory T cells have been reported and may contribute to sustained inflammation.

Hand ultrasound for the diagnosis of scleroderma: a scoring strategy including US items and items from the EULAR/ACR classification.

Objectives: To evaluate the diagnostic value of hand ultrasound (US) in systemic sclerosis (SSc) and to explore its relevance within a combined diagnostic approach.

Methods: 224 patients with suspected SSc were consecutively included. They all had US evaluation assessing the presence of fibrotic tenosynovitis (fibrotic TS) and ulnar artery occlusion (UAO).

Refining myositis associated with primary Sjögren's syndrome: data from the prospective cohort ASSESS.

Objectives: To refine the prevalence, characteristics and response to treatment of myositis in primary SS (pSS).

Methods: The multicentre prospective Assessment of Systemic Signs and Evolution in Sjögren's Syndrome (ASSESS) cohort of 395 pSS patients with ≥60 months' follow-up was screened by the 2017 EULAR/ACR criteria for myositis. Extra-muscular complications, disease activity and patient-reported scores were analysed.

Reversible anti-TNFα treatment induced dementia: A case report.

We report the first case of a reversible rapidly progressive dementia occurring in a patient with ankylosing spondylitis, a few months after the beginning of a TNFα inhibitor treatment (TNFi). The exhaustive neurologic explorations were negative. No etiology was found to explain dementia.

Spondyloarthritis and sarcoidosis: Related or fake friends? A systematic literature review.

Background: Sarcoidosis and spondyloarthritis (SpA) have been regularly associated. Bone iliac granulomas have also been described. We propose herein a systematic review of rheumatologic axial manifestations of sarcoidosis.

Seasonal effect on fatigue, pain and dryness in primary Sjögren's syndrome.

Background: To assess the presence of a seasonal effect on fatigue, pain and dryness in primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS).

Methods: Data (date; visual analogue scales (VAS) for pain, fatigue and dryness) were extracted from three randomised placebo-controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating infliximab (TRIPSS; n = 103 patients), hydroxychloroquine (JOQUER; n = 120 patients) and rituximab (TEARS; n = 120 patients) and from the 5-year follow-up of the ASSESS prospective cohort (n = 395 patients). Data were analysed at each visit for each patient, according to the day, the month of the year and the season.