Active clinical trials for "Myositis"

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of fish oil supplementation (Lovaza, GlaxoSmithKline) on muscle strength, muscle soreness and inflammation following exercise.

Rituximab is a man-made antibody used to treat certain types of cancer. This study will determine whether rituximab is an effective treatment for adult and pediatric patients with dermatomyositis or polymyositis. Study hypotheses: 1) The time to improvement in Group A patients (receiving rituximab first) will occur significantly earlier than in Group B patients (receiving rituximab later). 2) The proportion of patients improved at Week 8 of the treatment phase will be significantly greater in Group A than in Group B.

Adult patients with suspected or confirmed idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (IIM) will be recruited. Patients will be approached, consented, have baseline demographics, diagnostics and disease activity measures recorded, and blood taken. The collection of data and biological material will mirror usual clinical practice as far as possible. Subjects will ideally attend further visits at 3, 6 and 12 months to have bloods taken, outcome measures recorded and questionnaires completed.In addition, blood, muscle biopsies and imaging undertaken as part of usual care will also be collected for research purposes to measure a number of biomarkers for the assessment of diagnostic accuracy and clinical utility evaluation. As per usual practice, a muscle biopsy will be performed at baseline, and a further biopsy offered at 6 months to assess treatment response. A magnetic resonance (MR) muscle protocol will also be performed as per usual clinical practice, and a gadolinium-enhanced MR heart scan offered. Both these scans will be repeated at 6-12 months. An existing electronic database entry system will be used for data entry and capture on an anonymised basis.

The study aimed to assess the safety and, partially, the efficacy of dietary supplementation of a flavonoids-, DHA- and EPA-based natural supplement in non-ambulant DMD boys and in a cohort of LGMD and FSHD patients to compare its effect in MDs of different aetiology and to eventually highlight any differences in inflammatory involved pathways. To assess safety, patient's laboratory parameters were monitored and adverse events recorded, while efficacy was evaluated through performance scale questionnaire and strength measurement (6 minute walking test and Biodex System 4 Dynamometer parameter evaluation). This study was conceived as proof of principle for the safe use of flavonoids/omega3s-based compound as an adjuvant in the management of neuromuscular disorders; besides, its efficacy in alleviating symptoms linked to secondary effects of genetic mutation as inflammation, muscular pain and weakness was assessed.

This study will evaluate whether a dietary supplement, coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), will improve muscle symptoms, such as muscle aches, pains, cramps, and/or weakness, which are experienced by some individuals who use statin medications.

This is a 4 month open trial with TNF-blockade using infliximab (an antibody that blocks TNF) in adult patients with chronic myositis (polymyositis, dermatomyositis, inclusion body myositis) who have persisting muscle weakness and inflammatory active disease despite adequate treatment with immunosuppressives either currently or previously. Infliximab is given as infusions, 5 mg/kg body weight, these infusions are repeated after 2, 6 and 14 weeks. The study involves 15 adult patients. Primary outcome measure is muscle function assessed by muscle function index score. Other outcome measures are Myositis Disease Activity core set: Patient's global assessment and physicians global assessment on visual analogue scales (VAS). Manual muscle test, Health assessment questionnaire (HAQ), serum levels of CPK, LD and extra muscular disease activity score. Muscle biopsy, Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of thigh muscles and Health related Quality of life, measured by SF-36.

Antisynthetase syndrome (AS) is a rare overlapping myositis characterized by cellular and humoral autoimmune responses directed against aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases. Intesrtitial lung disease (ILD) is a leading cause of mortality in antisynthetase syndrome. Recently, antigen-specific IFN-γ+ CD4+ T cells have been identified in bronchoalveolar fluid (BAL) of patients with antisynthetase syndrome and ILD. Elevated levels of IL1β, IL12, IL18, TNFα, IL17A, IL22 have also been detected in peripheral blood of AS patients, especially those with progressive ILD. Implication of innate lymphoid cells (ILC) and mucosal-associated invariant T cells (MAIT) have not yet been studied in patients with AS. Targeted therapies against Th1 and Th17 cells may represent a promising treatment in patients AS patients with ILD. Investigators suppose that antigen-specific Th1 and Th17 cells, ILC and MAIT at ILD diagnosis are associated with ILD severity at diagnosis and could predict treatment response at 6 months. The main objective is to study the correlation between BAL antigen-specific Th1 and Th17 cells at ILD diagnosis and clinical evolution after 6 months of treatment according to initial ILD severity.

Exercise is an important part of therapy guidelines in the rehabilitation of rare diseases (RDs) as Haemophilia and Myositis. The aim of this study is not to evaluate a new therapy intervention, but to evaluate the delivery of this intervention. In clinical practice, patients are usually instructed to perform an exercise program at home. Normally, a physiotherapist (PT) provides an instruction (paper-) sheet. In this study, the investigators evaluate the feasibility of an interactive tablet-based way of delivery. The exercise program is - as usual in physiotherapy - individually tailored by the PT.

The primary objective of this research is to establish a well characterized clinical and longitudinal cohort for individuals with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and Myositis to create a place to maintain blood, urine, stool specimens, excess tissue from procedures, and clinical data, which may be accessed for future research purposes. Specific research objectives of this cohort include: Observe the response that immunosuppressive medications have on the immune cell population and cytokines in individuals with RA or Myositis. Observe the role that the intestinal microbiome has on the immune cell population and cytokines in individuals with RA or Myositis. Observe the connection between intestinal inflammation has on the immune cell population and cytokines in individuals with RA or Myositis.

Funding Source - FDA Office of Orphan Products Development (OOPD). The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the study drug, arimoclomol in IBM patients.