<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><xml><records><record><source-app name="HighWire" version="7.x">Drupal-HighWire</source-app><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Toprover, Michael</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Shah, Binita</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Drenkova, Kamelia</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Leonard, Ana</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Pillinger, Michael H.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Garshick, Michael</style></author></authors><secondary-authors></secondary-authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Endothelial Cell and Neutrophil Activation in Untreated Intercritical Patients With Gout</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">The Journal of Rheumatology</style></secondary-title></titles><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2025</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2025-10-01 00:00:00</style></date></pub-dates></dates><pages><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">1058-1061</style></pages><doi><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">10.3899/jrheum.2025-0255</style></doi><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">52</style></volume><issue><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">10</style></issue><abstract><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">To The Editor:Patients with gout have increased cardiovascular (CV) risk, the mechanisms of which are poorly understood.1 Vascular endothelium and peripheral blood neutrophils (PMNs) play essential roles in CV events, but their profiles in gout are incompletely elucidated. Patients with intercritical gout (ie, meeting European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology/American College of Rheumatology gout classification criteria but not in active flare according to Gout, Hyperuricaemia and Crystal-Associated Disease Network [G-CAN] consensus definition) experience diminished flow-mediated arterial dilation (consistent with abnormal endothelial function, and a recognized predictor of CV events) and increased systemic inflammation (elevated high-sensitivity C-reactive protein) compared with nongout controls.2,3 In this pilot study, we examined endothelial and neutrophil activation at a cellular level, comparing subjects with intercritical, untreated gout (no urate-lowering therapy for ≥ 4 weeks; and no colchicine, nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug, or glucocorticoid for ≥ 2 weeks) vs controls without gout. The intercritical period was selected to examine the nature of vascular dysfunction in the chronic rather than the intermittent flare state of the disease.An angiocatheter was placed into the brachial vein, and successive 0.018-inch J-wires were inserted to collect endothelial cells from the intima.4 Endothelial cells underwent RNA extraction and bulk RNA sequencing to assess proinflammatory transcripts. RNA sequencing libraries were created via Clontech SMART-Seq HT with Nxt HT (Takara Bio) and analyzed on a NovaSeq SP100 (Illumina) with mapping of sequencing reads to the human reference genome (GRCh37/hg19) using STAR (v2.6.1d). Read-count tables were generated using FeatureCounts from Subread (v1.6.3) and normalized using DESeq2 R package (v1.30.1), followed by differential expression analysis. Pathway analysis was performed (GSEA from ClusterProfiler R package (v3.18.1) using the full database of human gene ontology pathways downloaded from …</style></abstract></record></records></xml>