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Abstract Background This study aimed to establish the profile and the evolution of an early Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) cohort in the Moroccan population and also to search possible predictor factors of structural progression. Methods Patients with early RA (< 12 months) were enrolled in a 2-year follow-up study. Clinical, biological, immunogenetic, and radiographical data were analyzed at study entry and at 24 months. Presence of radiographic progression was retained when the total score was superior to the smallest detectable difference (SDD) calculated to be 5.4 according the Sharp/van der Heijde (SVDH) method. Results Fifty one patients (88.8% women, mean age of 46.9 [ 24-72 ] ± 10.8 years, mean disease duration of 24 [ 6-48 ] ± 13.9 weeks) were enrolled in this study. 68.6% were illiterate and 19.6% reported at least one comorbid condition. The mean delay in referral for specialist care was 140 [ 7-420 ] ± 43 days. Thirteen patients (62.5%) were IgM or IgA RF positive. HLA-DRB1*01 and DRB1*04 alleles were present respectively in 11.8% and 45.1% of patients. At baseline, 35.3% patients were taking corticosteroids and 7.8% were under conventional DMARDs. At 24 months, 77.2% received a median dose of 5 mg/day of prednisone. Methotrexate (MTX) was the most frequently prescribed DMARD, being taken by 65.2% of patients. 13.6% of patients had stopped their DMARD because of socioeconomic difficulties. Comparison of clinical and biologic parameters between baseline and 24 months thereafter revealed a significant global improvement of the disease status including morning stiffness, pain score, swollen joint count, DAS 28 and HAQ scores, ESR and CRP. Sixteen patients (34.8%) were in remission at 2 years versus no patients at baseline; P < 0.001. Forteen patients (27.5%) had at least one erosion at baseline. Radiographic progression occurred in 33.3% of patients and was associated in univariate analysis to swollen joint count (p = 0.03), total SVDH score (P = 0.04) and joint space narrowing score (P = 0.03). No independent factors of radiographic progression were shown by logistic regression. Conclusions These study reports, provided for the first time in Morocco, a developing African country, a large amount of information concerning the profile and the course of early RA. Patients who were receiving, for most of them, Methotrexate in monotherapy and low doses of corticosteroids, showed an improvement of all clinic and biologic disease parameters. Moreover, DAS remission was obtained in one third of patients and two thirds of the cohort had no radiographic progression at 2 years. No predictor factors of radiographic progression were found out. These results should be confirmed or not by a large unbiased RA cohort which will give more relevant information about early RA characteristics and its course and will constitute a major keystone of its management.

Lupus nephritis (LN) is a disease with a poor prognosis. The association between LN and the Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes has never been studied on a Moroccan population. The aim of this work was to evaluate the distribution of the HLA class II alleles in patients with LN and to determine susceptible and protective HLA alleles/haplotypes in LN. The association between these alleles, disease severity of LN, and age at onset were also investigated. Seventy-five patients with LN were compared with 169 healthy unrelated controls. HLA class II alleles typing was performed by polymerase chain reaction-sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP). A significant increase of HLA-DRB1*15 allele frequency (p= 0.001) and a significant decrease of the HLA-DRB1*04 allele (p= 0.04) were observed in LN patients. The frequency of HLA-DRB1*15-DQB1*06 haplotype (p= 0.003) was increased in the patients while that of HLA-DRB1*04-DQB1*03 (p= 0.027) was decreased. A significant increase of HLA-DRB1*15 allele frequency (p= 0.0001) and HLA-DRB1*15-DQB1*06 haplotype (p= 0.002) was observed in patients with class IV LN. In the Moroccan population we demonstrated the positive association of HLA class II alleles and haplotypes with LN and with a severe form of nephritis. HLA-DRB1*15 allele does not determine the age of disease onset in LN. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Celiac disease (CD) is an autoimmune disease frequently associated with type 1 diabetes (T1D). The prevalence of CD in patients with T1D varies from 3 to 6%. The clinical manifestation of CD in patients with T1D is classified as asymptomatic in about half of cases. Our study aims to determine the frequency of anti-tissue transglutaminase autoantibodies (IgA-tTG) and anti-gliadin antibodies (AGA) in patients with type 1 diabetes in order to early recommend jejunal biopsy and establish a gluten-free diet before the onset of clinical signs and complications of celiac disease. Subjects included in this study were patients with T1D and untreated CD who showed no signs of this disease. The detection of IgG tTG, IgG IgA and IgG AAG was performed using Luminex technology. We enrolled 31 patients. The study involved 16 men and 15 women. IgA AAG were positive in 4(13%) patients and IgG were positive in 7(22,5%) patients. IgA tTG were positive in 3(10%) patients and IgG was positive in one (3%) patient. In our study the association of diabetes type 1 with biomarkers of CD is not uncommon hence the importance of systematic screening for type 1 diabetes. The diagnosis of this atypical and silent CD form is important given the risk of serious complications such as malabsorption and gastrointestinal cancers.