Publicaties

Over an extended period of time, work in our laboratory focused on unravelling the role of interferon-γ (IFN-γ) in collagen-induced arthritis (CIA), a well characterised animal model for human rheumatoid arthritis (RA). IFN-γ was found to display anti-inflammatory properties in CIA since IFN-γ receptor knock-out (IFN-γR KO) mice developed CIA more rapidly and with a higher severity as compared to their wild-type counterparts. The protective ...

Our study reports the results of the MIRA (MabThera In Rheumatoid Arthritis) registry, set up to collect data about clinical usage, patient profile, and retention of rituximab (RTX) treatment in daily clinical practice in Belgium.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate prevalence of comorbidities and cardiovascular risk factors (CV RFs) in early, treatment naïve psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and to identify factors that contribute to the metabolic burden in early PsA (ePsA). METHODS: This was an observational longitudinal multicenter cohort study. Clinical, demographic characteristics, CV RF and comorbidities were compared in newly diagnosed PsA patients and ...

OBJECTIVES: Hip involvement remains a predictor of severe juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) course and carries a high risk of disability. This study aims to determine the factors of poor prognosis of hip involvement in patients with JIA and to assess the treatment response. METHODS: This is a multicenter observational cohort study. Patients were selected from the JIR Cohort database. Hip involvement was defined as clinically suspected and ...

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), an autoimmune disease causing inflammation, destruction, and deformity of the joints, affects around 1% of the world population. It is a systemic disease as patients exhibit extra-articular manifestations as well. Collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) in DBA/1 mice is one of the many animal models used to study possible pathogenic mechanisms of RA. It involves immunizing mice with collagen type II in complete Freund's ...

Introduction The objective was to develop a questionnaire that can be used to calculate a score reflecting the impact of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) from the patients’ perspective: the PsA Impact of Disease (PsAID) questionnaire. Methods Twelve patient research partners identified important domains (areas of health); 139 patients prioritised them according to importance. Numeric rating scale (NRS) questions were developed, one for each domain. To ...

BACKGROUND: Several agents provide treatment for established RA, but a crucial therapeutic goal is to delay/prevent progression of undifferentiated arthritis (UA) or very early RA. METHODS: In this double-blind, Phase II, placebo-controlled 2-year study, anti-CCP2-positive patients with UA (not fulfilling the ACR criteria for RA) and clinical synovitis of >/=2 joints were randomized to abatacept (~10 mg/kg) or placebo for 6 months, then study ...

BACKGROUND: The combination of tocilizumab plus a glucocorticoid taper is effective in maintaining clinical remission without requiring additional glucocorticoid therapy in patients with giant cell arteritis, as shown in part one of the Giant Cell Arteritis Actemra (GiACTA) trial. However, the duration of the tocilizumab effect after discontinuation is unknown. Here, we explored the maintenance of efficacy 1 year after discontinuation of ...