ARD podcast

In this podcast, Dr. Truchetet discusses her work on the role of innate lymphoid cells in the fibrotic processes in systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients. The group of Dr. Truchetet found that ILC2 are crucial mediators of skin fibrosis in SSc and that combined treatment of patients with TGFb inhibitors and IL-10 might be an attractive new therapeutic approach in SSc. Read the full paper on the ARD website: https://ard.bmj.com/content/80/12/1594

Please subscribe to the ARD podcast on all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify. If you enjoy the show, feel free to leave us a comment or a review on the podcast iTunes page (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/ard-podcast/id1171058059).

In this podcast, we invite two authors from recent ARD papers dedicated to the efficacy of mRNA vaccines in patients with immunosuppressive therapies. Christophe Richez, Department of Rheumatology, University Medical Center, Bordeaux, France, and ARD's Social Media Advisor, interviews Bimba Hoyer, Department for Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein Campus Kiel, Germany, and Rebecca H Haberman, Division of Rheumatology, University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, USA. They describe their works and offer their thoughts on the current situation in this area and the future. Related content: https://ard.bmj.com/content/early/2021/05/11/annrheumdis-2021-220272

https://ard.bmj.com/content/early/2021/06/07/annrheumdis-2021-220597

The EULAR COVID-19 database and the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance work together on shared collected data to address the most pertinent questions in regard to risks for people with rheumatic diseases and COVID-19 infection. The latest study confirms already known risk factors for more severe disease and explores associations between treatments and the risk of death.

In this podcast, ARD’s social media editor, Dr Paul Studenic, is joined by Prof. Pedro Machado, from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre, London, UK, to discuss the paper “Factors associated with COVID-19-related death in people with rheumatic diseases: results from the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance physician-reported registry” (http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/annrheumdis-2020-219498).

Capturing disease progression in SSc is challenging. Becker and colleagues addressed this problem by identifying predictors of disease worsening in the EUSTAR cohort. ARD's social media advisor Dr. Caroline Ospelt talks to Dr. Mike Becker about the results of this analysis.

Read the paper: ard.bmj.com/content/78/9/1242

In this podcast, Dr. Paul Studenic speaks to Dr. Sofia Ramiro and Prof. Robert Landewé both engaged in clinical work in the Zuyderland Medical Center in the south of the Netherlands about their clinical study evaluating systemic glucocorticoids and Il-6 blockade as second-line treatment for COVID-19-associated cytokine storm syndrome. They tell the story of the set-up of a peculiar trial using historical patients treated with supportive care as controls to the ‘experimental’ treatment strategy during these unprecedented times of March and April 2020. Link to article: https://ard.bmj.com/content/79/9/1143

Link to EULAR press release: https://www.eular.org/sysModules/obxContent/files/www.eular.2015/1_42291DEB-50E5-49AE-5726D0FAAA83A7D4/eular_glucocorticoids_and_il_6_receptor_can_reduce_covid19_css_related_hospital_mortality_(002).pdf

Statins are some of the most commonly prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs. They act by inhibiting HMG-CoA reductase, the main enzyme in the synthesis of cholesterol. Earlier studies have shown that statins have an osteoprotective effect: a recently published paper has shown that there is a dose-dependent relationship between different kinds of statins with diagnosis of osteoporosis. "We could find an underrepresentation of osteoporosis in low-dose and an overrepresentation in high-dose statin treatment," says first author Dr. Michael Leutner, MSc PhD (Department of Internal Medicine 3, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Medical University of Vienna), who discusses the details of his study with Dr. Paul Studenic in this podcast.

Read the paper: https://ard.bmj.com/content/78/12/1706

In this podcast recorded at the ACR meeting 2019, Dr. Caroline Ospelt speaks to Prof. Anca Catrina and Dr. Aase Hensvold both of the Division of Rheumatology at the Department of Medicine located at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm Sweden.

Hensvold et al. developed a prediction score by combining several clinical and blood-based markers that could be useful in predicting which patients with auto-antibodies and musculoskeletal symptoms develop ultrasound-detectable arthritis. These are the first results of an ongoing study on individuals at-risk for rheumatoid arthritis.

Dr. Felice Rivellese from the Center of Experimental Medicine and Rheumatology at the Queen Mary University in London discusses the results of his presentation at the ACR 2019 with Dr. Caroline Ospelt. In a subanalysis of the pathobiology of the Early Arthitis Cohort (PEAC), Rivellese at al could show that B cell-rich synovitis is associated with disease severity and radiographic progression, in particular, if B cell infiltrates persist after cDMARD treatment.

This randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial by Kroon et al has demonstrated a substantial improvement in painful hand OA with signs of inflammation following six weeks of low-dose prednisolone.

Atul Deodhar, from the Oregon Health & Science University, provides an overview of recent clinical trial results in the area of seronegative Spondylarthritis. He presented the 24-week data of Guselkumab in active psoriatic arthritis patients in the DISCOVER-1 study and compared the phase 3 trials in non-radiographic SpA patients on Ixekizumab (COAST-X) and Secukinumab (PREVENT) with up to 52 week data available.