Background Since systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) affects women of reproductive age, pregnancy is a major concern. Objective To identify predictors of adverse pregnancy outcome (APO) in inactive or stable active SLE patients Design Prospective Cohort Setting Multicenter Patients 385 patients (49% non-Hispanic White; 31% prior nephritis) with SLE in PROMISSE. Exclusion criteria were: proteinuria >1000 mg/24 hour, creatinine >1.2 mg/dL, prednisone >20 mg/day, or multi-fetal pregnancy. Measurements APO included: fetal/neonatal death; birth <36 weeks due to placental insufficiency, hypertension, or preeclampsia; and small for gestational age (SGA) <5%. Disease activity was assessed by SLEPDAI and physician's global assessment (PGA). Results APO occurred in 19.0% (95% CI: 15.2% - 23.2%) of pregnancies, fetal death (4%), neonatal death (1%), preterm delivery (9%), and SGA (10%). Severe flares in the second and third trimester occurred in 2.5% and 3.0%, respectively. Baseline predictors of APO included lupus anticoagulant positive (OR = 8.32, 95% CI: 3.59-19.26), antihypertensive use (OR = 7.05, 95% CI: 3.05 - 16.31), PGA>1 (OR = 4.02, 95% CI: 1.84 - 8.82) and platelets (OR = 1.33 per 50K decrease, 95% CI:1.09-1.63); non-Hispanic White was protective (OR = 0.45, 95% CI: 0.24-0.84). Maternal flares, higher disease activity, and smaller increase in C3 later in pregnancy also predicted APO. Among women without baseline risk factors, the APO rate was 7.8%. For those either LAC positive, or LAC negative but non-White or Hispanic and taking antihypertensives, APO rate was 58%; fetal/neonatal mortality 22%. Limitations Excluded patients with high disease activity. Conclusions In pregnant SLE patients with inactive or stable mild/moderate disease, severe flares are infrequent, and absent specific risk factors, outcomes are favorable. Primary Funding Source National Institutes of Health

Severe lung fibrosis is common in MCTD, has an impact on pulmonary function and overall physical capacity and is associated with increased mortality.

The data from the current unselected MCTD cohort suggest that the prevalence of PH is much lower than expected from previous studies but confirm the seriousness of the disease complication.

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Thrombopoietin-receptor-agonists (TPO-RA) are effective treatments of immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). Previous long-term TPO-RA clinical trials have shown that thrombotic events occurred in 6% of TPO-RA-treated ITP patients. To explore the increased risk of thrombosis, the effects of TPO-RA on markers of coagulation and P-selectin were studied. The study comprised two ITP cohorts and controls. Cohort 1 included 26 patients with sequential samples acquired before and during treatment with TPO-RA. Cohort 2 included a single sample in 18 patients on TPO-RA for more than one year. Thrombin generation (endogenous thrombin potential (ETP)) prothrombin fragments 1 + 2 (F), D-dimer, and plasminogen-activator-inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) were measured as well as soluble P-selectin (sP-selectin). Sequential expression of encoding genes for P-selectin (SELP) and PAI-1 (SERPINE1) was determined in four patients in cohort 1. Significantly higher levels of F, D-dimer, and PAI-1 were found in ITP patients before TPO-RA treatment and in patients on long-term TPO-RA treatment than in controls. Pre-treatment levels of sP-selectin did not differ from controls. Analysis of longitudinal trends showed an increase in platelet count, sP-selectin, and PAI-1 after initiation of TPO-RA, followed by gradual decline. Platelet count and sP-selectin remained at higher levels throughout the study, whereas PAI-1 did not. Levels of other studied parameters did not show significant changes after initiation of treatment. Expression of SELP was up-regulated after initiation of TPO-RA, while the expression of SERPINE1 showed no significant changes. In conclusion, elevated pre-treatment levels of F, D-dimer and PAI-1 are compatible with ITP being an intrinsically pro-thrombotic condition. After TPO-RA treatment, there were no significant changes in markers of coagulation activation or fibrinolysis, except for an initial increase in PAI-1 and a significant increase in sP-selectin both of which may contribute to increased thrombotic risk associated with TPO-RA treatment in ITP.

Introduction: Patients with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) are at increased risk of thrombosis, which seems to be further enhanced by treatment with thrombopoietin-receptor-agonists (TPO-RAs). The underlying mechanisms of thrombosis in ITP are not fully understood. Endothelial cell activation and neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) play important roles in thrombosis, however, their roles in ITP itself, or in TPO-RA-treatment, have not yet been fully explored. We aimed to investigate whether endothelial cell activation and NETs are involved in the hypercoagulable state of ITP, and whether TPO-RA-treatment enhances endothelial cell activation and NET formation. Material and methods: We measured markers of endothelial cell activation including intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), vascular adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) and thrombomodulin in 21 ITP patients, and Eselectin in 18 ITP patients. Markers of NET formation, citrullinated histone H3-DNA (H3Cit-DNA) and cell-free DNA (cfDNA), were measured in 15 ITP patients. All markers were measured before, and 2 and 6 weeks after initiation of TPO-RA-treatment in ITP patients, and in matched controls. Results: Higher levels of ICAM-1, thrombomodulin, and H3Cit-DNA were found in ITP patients, both before and after TPO-RA-treatment, compared with controls. No differences were found for VCAM-1, E-selectin or cfDNA. TPO-RA-treatment did not further increase markers of endothelial cell activation or NET formation. Conclusions: This study showed that ITP patients have increased endothelial cell activation and NET formation, both of which may contribute to the intrinsic hypercoagulable state of ITP. TPO-RA-treatment, however, did not further increase endothelial cell activation or NET formation indicating that other drug-associated prothrombotic mechanisms are involved.

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MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs involved in the regulation of gene expression. Dysregulated expression of several miRNAs has been found in primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) suggesting that miRNAs are likely involved in the pathogenesis of ITP. We aimed to explore the differential expression of miRNAs in patients with ITP before and after starting treatment with thrombopoietin-receptor agonists (TPO-RAs) to clarify their roles in the pathophysiology of ITP, and as potential diagnostic and prognostic markers of this disorder. We performed a profiling study where 179 miRNAs were analyzed in eight ITP patients before and during treatment with TPO-RAs and in eight controls using miRNA PCR panel; 81 miRNAs were differentially expressed in ITP patients compared to controls, and 14 miRNAs showed significant changes during TPO-RA-treatment. Ten miRNAs were selected for validation that was performed in 23 patients and 22 controls using droplet digital PCR. Three miRNAs were found to be differentially expressed in ITP patients before TPO-RA-treatment compared to controls: miR-199a-5p was down-regulated (p=0.0001), miR-33a-5p (p=0.0002) and miR-195-5p (p=0.035) were up-regulated. Treatment with TPO-RAs resulted in changes in six miRNAs including miR-199a-5p (p=0.001), miR-33a-5p (p=0.003), miR-382-5p (p=0.004), miR-92b-3p (p=0.005), miR-26a-5p (p=0.008) and miR-221-3p (p=0.023); while miR-195-5p remained unchanged and significantly higher than in controls, despite the increase in the platelet count, which may indicate its possible role in the pathophysiology of ITP. Regression analysis revealed that pre-treatment levels of miR-199a-5p and miR-221-3p could help to predict platelet response to TPO-RA-treatment. ROC curve analysis showed that the combination of miR-199a-5p and miR-33a-5p could distinguish patients with ITP from controls with AUC of 0.93. This study identifies a number of differentially expressed miRNAs in ITP patients before and after initiation of TPO-RAs with potential roles in the pathophysiology, as well as with a possible utility as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. These interesting findings deserve further exploration and validation in future studies.