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Does Survivin and Survivin Antibodies Play a Role in Rheumatoid Arthritis?

Aberrant apoptosis (programmed cell death: the orderly disposal of non-essential cells) is thought to play an important role in autoimmune disease. In RA, resident synovial macrophages and fibroblast-like synovial lining cells are known to be relatively resistant to apoptosis, a process that may contribute to the initiation and propagation of RA. Survivin, an apoptosis-inhibiting protein that is expressed abundantly in most human cancers but not in most normal human adult tissues, has been well described in the oncology literature for its contribution to carcinogenesis.

Association Between Lower Extremity Muscle Mass and Knee Cartilage Volume

Increased body weight is thought to increase the risk of knee osteoarthritis (OA) by increasing the amount of mechanical knee loading subjected to the knees with use. Accordingly, obesity is a well-established risk factor for the development of knee OA. However, weight alone may not completely identify risk, as body weight reflects distribution of body composition (adipose, lean tissue mass, and bone mass) that may differ between individuals and convey differing risk patterns for knee OA.