Improvement of symptoms in clinically suspect arthralgia and resolution of subclinical joint inflammation: a longitudinal study in patients that did not progress to clinical arthritis

INTRODUCTION: Arthralgia and MRI-detected subclinical inflammation can precede the development of clinically evident rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, part of the patients presenting with clinically suspect arthralgia (CSA) do not progress to RA. In these 'non-progressors', we aimed to study the frequencies of spontaneous improvement of arthralgia and its relation with the course of subclinical inflammation. METHODS: Between April 2012 and April 2015, 241 patients were considered at risk for RA based on the clinical presentation and included in the CSA cohort. One hundred fifty-two patients with complete data on clinical follow-up did not develop clinical arthritis, of which 98 underwent serial 1.5T MRI scans (wrist, MCP2-5, and MTP1-5 joints) at baseline and after 2 years. MRI scans were scored for synovitis, tenosynovitis, and bone marrow oedema (summed: MRI inflammation score). MRI scores were compared to scores of symptom-free persons. RESULTS: After a 2-year follow-up, 33% of the 'non-progressors' had complete resolution of symptoms; 67% had no symptom resolution and were diagnosed as persistent CSA (44%), osteoarthritis (10%), and tendinomuscular complaints (13%). With symptom-free controls as a reference, patients without resolution did not have increased MRI scores at any time point. However, patients achieving resolution of symptoms had increased MRI inflammation scores at baseline (4.0 vs. 2.6, p = 0.037), but not after 2 years (3.0 vs. 2.6; p = 0.57), and during follow-up, their MRI inflammation score decreased significantly (p = 0.036). CONCLUSIONS: A subgroup of CSA patients that did not progress to RA had spontaneous improvement of symptoms and resolution of subclinical joint inflammation. This time relationship suggests that symptoms and inflammation were causally related in these patients. Further research is needed to identify the mechanisms underlying the resolution of inflammation

Development of clinically apparent synovitis: A longitudinal study at the joint level during progression to inflammatory arthritis

Introduction Subclinical inflammation, detected by MRI, in patients with arthralgia is predictive for development of inflammatory arthritis (IA). However, within patients that develop IA, the course of inflammation at the joint level during this transition is unknown. This longitudinal study assessed progression of inflammation at the joint level. Methods 350 joints (unilateral metacarpophalangeals (MCPs), wrist, metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joints) of 35 patients presenting with clinically suspect arthralgia (CSA) that progressed to IA were studied at presentation with CSA and subsequently when clinical synovitis was first identified at joint examination (median time interval 17 weeks). At both time points, subclinical inflammation (bone marrow oedema, synovitis, tenosynovitis) was evaluated with MRI and joint examination was performed. Results At presentation with CSA, 71 joints showed subclinical inflammation. During progression to IA, 20% of these joints had resolution of inflammation, 60% had persistent inflammation and 20% progressed to clinical synovitis. Of all joints that had developed clinical synovitis (n = 45), no prior subclinical inflammation was detected in 69%. Similar results were observed for anticitrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA)-positive and ACPA-negative patients. Conclusions This longitudinal study demonstrated moderate correlations between joints with subclinical inflammation and joints that developed clinical synovitis. These data imply that IA development is a more systemic rather than a locally outgrowing process

Does psychological stress in patients with clinically suspect arthralgia associate with subclinical inflammation and progression to inflammatory arthritis?

Background: Within established rheumatoid arthritis (RA), stress can have pro-inflammatory effects by activating the immune system via the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the autonomic nervous system. It is unknown if stress levels also promote inflammation during RA development. We studied whether the psychological stress response was increased in clinically suspect arthralgia (CSA) and if this associated with inflammation at presentation with arthralgia and with progression to clinical arthritis. Methods: In 241 CSA patients, psychological stress was measured by the Mental Health Inventory (MHI-5) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) at first presentation and during follow-up. Systemic inflammation was measured by C-reactive protein (CRP) and joint inflammation by 1.5 T-MRI of wrist, MCP, and MTP joints. Results: At baseline, 12% (24/197) of CSA patients had a high psychological stress response according to the MHI-5. This was not different for patients presenting with or without an elevated CRP, with or without subclinical MRI-detected inflammation and for patients who did or did not develop arthritis. Similar findings were obtained with the PSS-10. When developing clinical arthritis, the percentage of patients with 'high psychological stress' increased to 31% (p = 0.025); during the first year of treatment this decreased to 8% (p = 0.020). 'High psychological stress' in non-progressors remained infrequent over time (range 7-13%). Stress was associated with fatigue (p = 0.003) and wellbeing (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Psychological stress was not increased in the phase of arthralgia, raised at the time of diagnoses and decreased thereafter. The lack of an association with inflammat

Does psychological stress in patients with clinically suspect arthralgia associate with subclinical inflammation and progression to inflammatory arthritis?

Abstract Background Within established rheumatoid arthritis (RA), stress can have pro-inflammatory effects by activating the immune system via the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the autonomic nervous system. It is unknown if stress levels also promote inflammation during RA development. We studied whether the psychological stress response was increased in clinically suspect arthralgia (CSA) and if this associated with inflammation at presentation with arthralgia and with progression to clinical arthritis. Methods In 241 CSA patients, psychological stress was measured by the Mental Health Inventory (MHI-5) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) at first presentation and during follow-up. Systemic inflammation was measured by C-reactive protein (CRP) and joint inflammation by 1.5 T-MRI of wrist, MCP, and MTP joints. Results At baseline, 12% (24/197) of CSA patients had a high psychological stress response according to the MHI-5. This was not different for patients presenting with or without an elevated CRP, with or without subclinical MRI-detected inflammation and for patients who did or did not develop arthritis. Similar findings were obtained with the PSS-10. When developing clinical arthritis, the percentage of patients with ‘high psychological stress’ increased to 31% (p = 0.025); during the first year of treatment this decreased to 8% (p = 0.020). ‘High psychological stress’ in non-progressors remained infrequent over time (range 7–13%). Stress was associated with fatigue (p = 0.003) and wellbeing (p < 0.001). Conclusions Psychological stress was not increased in the phase of arthralgia, raised at the time of diagnoses and decreased thereafter. The lack of an association with inflammation in arthralgia and this temporal relationship, argue against psychological stress having a significant contribution to progression from CSA to inflammatory arthritis

Hand function is already reduced before RA development and reflects subclinical tenosynovitis

Background Clinically suspect arthralgia (CSA) is characterised by arthralgia of small joints and considered a risk stage for development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, it remains unknown if the function of the hands is already affected and what mechanisms underlie impaired hand-function in CSA. Methods We studied various measures of hand function in two CSA populations. CSA patients in the TREAT EARLIER-trial (n=236) were evaluated at baseline for: grip strength on a dynamometer (GS), patient-reported difficulties in the grip domain of the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) questionnaire and incomplete fist closure at physical examination. Findings were validated in an independent CSA cohort (n=600) where hand function was measured as: GS evaluated by squeezing the examiner's fingers, grip domain of the HAQ questionnaire and fist closure. Contrast-enhanced MRI of the hands measured synovitis, tenosynovitis and bone marrow oedema (summed as subclinical inflammation) in both cohorts. Results GS (on a dynamometer) was reduced in 75% compared with reference values in healthy controls, 60% reported grip difficulties and 13% had incomplete fist closure. Reduced GS was associated with subclinical inflammation (-0.38 kg/point inflammation, 95% CI -0.68 to -0.08). Studying separate MRI features, GS reduction was independently associated with tenosynovitis, decreasing with -2.63 kg (95% CI -2.26 to -0.33)/point tenosynovitis (range observed tenosynovitis scores: 0-20). Similar relations with tenosynovitis were seen for patient-reported grip difficulties (OR 1.12/point, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.42) and incomplete fist closure (OR 1.36/point, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.79). In the validation cohort, 36% had decreased examiner-assessed GS, 51% reported grip difficulties and 14% incomplete fist closure: all were associated with tenosynovitis. Decreased dynamometer-measured GS was most sensitive for detecting tenosynovitis (75%), while incomplete fist closure was most specific (88%-90%). Conclusion Hand function is already often affected before RA development. These limitations are related to subclinical inflammation and tenosynovitis in particular

Persistently activated, proliferative memory autoreactive B cells promote inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis

Autoreactive B cells mediate autoimmune pathology, but exactly how remains unknown. A hallmark of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a common autoimmune disease, is the presence of disease-specific anticitrullinated protein antibodies (ACPAs). Here, we showed that ACPA-positive B cells in patients with RA strongly expressed T cell-stimulating ligands, produced abundant proinflammatory cytokines, and were proliferative while escaping inhibitory signals. This activated state was found at different degrees in different stages of disease: highest in patients with recent-onset RA, moderate in patients with established RA, and far less pronounced in ACPA-positive individuals "at risk" for developing disease. The activated autoreactive B cell response persisted in patients who achieved clinical remission with conventional treatment. ACPA-positive B cells in blood and synovial fluid secreted increased amounts of the chemoattractant interleukin-8, which attracted neutrophils, the most abundant immune cell in arthritic joints. Tetanus toxoid-specific B cells from the same patients exhibited properties of memory B cells without the activation and proliferation phenotype, but these cells transiently acquired a similar proliferative phenotype upon booster vaccination. Together, these data indicated that continuous antigenic triggering of autoreactive B cells occurs in human autoimmune disease and support the emerging concept of immunological activity that persists under treatment even in clinical remission, which may revise our current concept of treatment targets for future therapeutic interventions. In addition, our data pointed to a pathogenic role of ACPA-positive B cells in the inflammatory disease process underlying RA and favor approaches that aim at their antigen-specific inactivation or depletion