Polymyositis News

The risk for autoimmune disease among teenage girls does not increase after they receive the quadrivalent HPV vaccine, according to findings published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

DESTIN, Fla. — Although the incidence of rheumatologic adverse effects associated with immune checkpoint inhibitors is expected to grow with their increased use, these effects remain poorly studied in random clinical trials, according to findings presented at the 2018 Congress of Clinical Rheumatology.

For some patients with myositis, an early diagnosis can mean the difference between life and death, according to Bob Goldberg, executive director of the Myositis Association.

The nature of the relationship that patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases have with their rheumatologist can greatly affect perceptions of — and experiences with — their medications, according to findings published in BMC Rheumatology.

BOSTON — The potential rheumatic side effects of checkpoint inhibitor therapy in patients with cancer can include arthralgia, arthritis, polymyalgia rheumatica, giant cell arteritis, myositis, sicca syndrome and systemic lupus erythematosus, and can be chronic in approximately 50% of patients, according to findings presented here.

AstraZeneca has announced that MedImmune, its biologics research and development arm, will spin out a new, independent biotech company named Viela Bio, which will focus on developing medicines for severe autoimmune diseases, according to a press release.

Among patients with polymyositis or dermatomyositis, the progression of interstitial lung disease is the most important factor in survival, with respiratory infection as an additional predictor, according to findings published in Arthritis Research and Therapy.

Consensus treatment plans can help reduce variation in treatment approaches, identify effective treatment strategies and standardize outcomes for pediatric patients with rheumatic diseases, according to a recent review published in Arthritis & Rheumatology.

Data published in Arthritis Research and Therapy suggest that mixed connective tissue disease is a relatively stable disease with infrequent periods of long-term remission.

The American College of Rheumatology and The European League Against Rheumatism have released their 2017 classification criteria for juvenile and adult idiopathic inflammatory myopathies and their major subgroups, which were published in Arthritis and Rheumatology.