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Objective: The study aimed to evaluate the influence of storage temperature on immunobiological efficacy and safety in autoimmune rheumatic disease treatment. Methods: This observational study included adult patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases who used immunobiologicals stored at home and were followed up at the rheumatology outpatient clinic of the General University Hospital of Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brazil, in 2017/2018. Patients were evaluated regarding disease activity and occurrence of adverse events, and a household survey of the temperature of the storage environment of these drugs was conducted. Results: Sixty patients with a mean age of 50.4 years were evaluated. Of these, 39 patients (65%) stored their biological drugs outside the recommended temperature range. Storage of the immunobiological at the incorrect temperature was 76% higher among patients with moderate/high rheumatic disease activity (p=0.003). Conclusion: Most patients stored their immunobiologicals outside the temperature range recommended in the package insert, and there was an association between incorrect storage temperature and moderate/high autoimmune rheumatic disease activity.

Background: Evidence suggests that DNA damage is implicated in the development of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). Objective: Investigate the possible association of polymorphisms in the DNA repair genes XRCC1 and XRCC3 with SLE and its clinical and laboratory features. Methods: This is a case-control study comparing the polymorphisms in the DNA repair genes XRCC1 and XRCC3 in SLE patients and control individuals. Genotyping for DNA repair genes was performed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism in 76 patients and 82 healthy control individuals. Results: Our data indicated that the genotype frequencies in patients with the XRCC1 Arg399Gln and XRCC3 Thr241Met polymorphisms were similar to those observed in the control group (p > 0.05). However, the frequencies of the 399Gln allele (p = 0.023, OR = 0.58, 95% CI = 0.36–0.93) and 241Met allele (p = 0.0039, OR = 0.59, 95% CI = 0.36–0.98) were significantly lower in the patients than those in the control subjects. Conclusion: We demonstrated that 399Gln and 241Met alleles may play a protective role in SLE susceptibility.