IMPORTANCE Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a common skin disorder in which excessive inflammation is believed to have an important role. There is no specific therapy for HS. OBJECTIVE To investigate the safety and efficacy of the anti-inflammatory biological therapy anakinra in HS. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial with a 12-week treatment phase and a 12-week follow-up phase. The setting was Attikon University General Hospital, a tertiary care institution in Athens, Greece. Participants were 20 patients with Hurley stage II or III HS. The study and the analysis were conducted between

A number of genetic mutations is associated with cardiomyopathies. A mutation in the coding region of the phospholamban (PLN) gene (R14del) is identified in families with hereditary heart failure. Heterozygous patients exhibit left ventricular dilation and ventricular arrhythmias. Here we generate induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from a patient harbouring the PLN R14del mutation and differentiate them into cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs). We find that the PLN R14del mutation induces Ca2+ handling abnormalities, electrical instability, abnormal cytoplasmic distribution of PLN protein and increases expression of molecular markers of cardiac hypertrophy in iPSC-CMs. Gene correction using transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) ameliorates the R14del-associated disease phenotypes in iPSC-CMs. In addition, we show that knocking down the endogenous PLN and simultaneously expressing a codon-optimized PLN gene reverses the disease phenotype in vitro. Our findings offer novel strategies for targeting the pathogenic mutations associated with cardiomyopathies.

Inflammatory markers, particularly hs-CRP and to a lesser extent, fibrinogen and ESR, can be used to assist in assessing disease severity and response to treatment in patients with psoriasis. A combination of selected inflammatory factors (which we term the Index of Psoriasis Inflammation) in combination with PASI might reflect inflammatory status in psoriasis more accurately than each one separately.

The efficacy and tolerability of tetracyclines and clindamycin plus rifampicin for the treatment of hidradenitis suppurativa; results of a prospective European cohort study