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Abstract Objectives The dysregulated immune response is one of the cardinal features of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19). This study was conducted to clarify the occurrence of autoantibodies (AABs) associated with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARDs) in hospitalized patients with a moderate, severe, and critical form of COVID‐19. Methods The serum samples obtained from 176 hospitalized COVID‐19 patients were investigated in this study, including patients with moderate (N = 90), severe (N = 50), and critical (N = 36) forms of COVID‐19. Also, the serum samples collected from healthy subjects before the COVID‐19 pandemic were used as controls (N = 176). The antinuclear antibodies (ANAs), antidouble‐stranded DNA (anti‐dsDNA), cytoplasmic‐anti neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (c‐ANCA), perinuclear ANCA (p‐ANCA), antiphospholipid antibodies (aPLs), and anticyclic citrullinated peptide (anti‐CCP) occurrence was evaluated using a solid‐phase enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results The results showed that the occurrence of ANAs, anti‐dsDNA, anti‐CCP, c‐ANCA, and p‐ANCA was significantly higher in the COVID‐19 patients compared to serum obtained from healthy subjects (p

Abstract Objectives The significance of T helper 17 (Th17) cells in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has recently been demonstrated in many studies. Retinoic acid receptor‐related orphan receptor γt (RORγt) is a transcription factor that is specifically involved in the generation of Th17 cells. Besides, the chemokine receptor CCR6, the receptor for CCL20, is characteristically expressed by these cells. Considering the pivotal roles of Th17 cells in RA pathogenesis, in this study, we assessed the gene expression of CCR6 and RORγt in the peripheral blood leukocytes of new case RA patients. Also, we evaluated their association with anticyclic citrullinated peptide (anti‐CCP) antibodies and disease activity. Methods Forty‐five new case RA patients and 45 healthy persons have been recruited in this investigation. The gene expression of CCR6 and RORγt was evaluated by quantitative real‐time PCR (qRT‐PCR), and anti‐CCP antibodies plasma levels were measured using the enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique. Disease activity was measured according to the disease activity score‐28 (DAS‐28) formula. Results The gene expression of CCR6 and RORγt increased remarkably in new case RA patients compared to healthy controls (p

Abstract Leukocytoclastic vasculitis could be a possible adverse event of different SARS‐CoV‐2 vaccines. Clinicians and manufacturers should be aware of this adverse event for appropriate diagnosis and treatment.