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Patient registries are a very important and essential tool for investigating rare diseases, as most physicians only see a limited number of cases during their career. Diseases of multi-organ autoimmunity and autoinflammation are especially challenging, as they are characterized by diverse clinical phenotypes and highly variable expressivity. The GAIN consortium (German multi-organ Auto Immunity Network) developed a dataset addressing these challenges. ICD-11, HPO, and ATC codes were incorporated to document various clinical manifestations and medications with a defined terminology. The GAIN dataset comprises detailed information on genetics, phenotypes, medication, and laboratory values. Between November 2019 and July 2022, twelve centers from Europe have registered 419 patients with multi-organ autoimmunity or autoinflammation. The median age at onset of symptoms was 13 years (IQR 3-28) and the median delay from onset to diagnosis was 5 years (IQR 1-14). Of 354 (84.5%) patients who were genetically tested, 248 (59.2%) had a defined monogenetic cause. For 87 (20.8%) patients, no mutation was found and for 19 (4.5%), the result was pending. The most common gene affected was NFkB1 (48, 11.5%), and the second common was CTLA4 (40, 9.5%), both genetic patient groups being fostered by specific research projects within GAIN. The GAIN registry may serve as a valuable resource for research in the inborn error of immunity community by providing a platform for etiological and diagnostic research projects, as well as observational trials on treatment options., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Objective: A project aimed at developing new classification criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is based on weighted criteria that include both laboratory and clinical items. Combinations of certain symptoms may occur commonly in SLE, which provides an argument against independently counting these items. The current study was undertaken to evaluate the interrelationship between candidate criteria items in the International Early SLE cohort and in the Euro-Lupus cohort., Methods: The International Early SLE cohort included 389 patients, who were diagnosed within 3 years prior to the study. Data on the ACR's 1997 update of the SLE revised criteria, the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics 2012 criteria, and on 30 additional items were collected. To evaluate the interrelationship of the criteria, a tetrachoric correlation was used to assess the degree of association between different manifestations in the same organ system. The correlations identified in the International Early SLE cohort were validated in the Euro-Lupus cohort., Results: A few relevant correlations were observed among specific clinical cutaneous manifestations (in particular, malar rash correlated with photosensitivity, alopecia, and oral ulcers) and serologic manifestations (anti-Sm and anti-double-stranded DNA and anti-RNA polymerase, anti-Ro and anti-La, and antiphospholipid antibodies), and these results were validated in the Euro-Lupus cohort. The associations within the mucocutaneous domain, hematologic and the specific autoantibodies suggest that within a single domain only the highest ranking item should be counted to avoid overrepresentation., Conclusion: Some of the candidate SLE criteria cluster within domains. Given these interrelationships, multiple criteria within a domain should not be independently counted. These results are important to consider for the structure of new SLE classification criteria., (© 2020, American College of Rheumatology.)

The recommendations of the German Society of Rheumatology (DGRh) update, which update and expand the guidance on the management of patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases in view of SARS-CoV‑2 created at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, correspond in many points with the recommendations for action of the American (ACR) and European (EULAR) societies, but also differ in some points. Therefore, this article discusses the core recommendations of the DGRh update on the prevention of SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19, the risk assessment for inflammatory rheumatic diseases and the use of antirheumatic treatments in the context and in comparison to the ACR and EULAR recommendations, and provides an overview of the risk assessment of individual antirheumatic drugs.

Objective: To develop new classification criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) jointly supported by the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) and the American College of Rheumatology (ACR)., Methods: This international initiative had four phases. 1) Evaluation of antinuclear antibody (ANA) as an entry criterion through systematic review and meta-regression of the literature and criteria generation through an international Delphi exercise, an early patient cohort, and a patient survey. 2) Criteria reduction by Delphi and nominal group technique exercises. 3) Criteria definition and weighting based on criterion performance and on results of a multi-criteria decision analysis. 4) Refinement of weights and threshold scores in a new derivation cohort of 1,001 subjects and validation compared with previous criteria in a new validation cohort of 1,270 subjects., Results: The 2019 EULAR/ACR classification criteria for SLE include positive ANA at least once as obligatory entry criterion; followed by additive weighted criteria grouped in 7 clinical (constitutional, hematologic, neuropsychiatric, mucocutaneous, serosal, musculoskeletal, renal) and 3 immunologic (antiphospholipid antibodies, complement proteins, SLE-specific antibodies) domains, and weighted from 2 to 10. Patients accumulating ≥10 points are classified. In the validation cohort, the new criteria had a sensitivity of 96.1% and specificity of 93.4%, compared with 82.8% sensitivity and 93.4% specificity of the ACR 1997 and 96.7% sensitivity and 83.7% specificity of the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics 2012 criteria., Conclusion: These new classification criteria were developed using rigorous methodology with multidisciplinary and international input, and have excellent sensitivity and specificity. Use of ANA entry criterion, hierarchically clustered, and weighted criteria reflects current thinking about SLE and provides an improved foundation for SLE research., (© 2019, American College of Rheumatology.)