Discovery of new biomarkers to implement precision medicine in rheumatology, in order to improve the diagnosis and the treatment of inflammatory rheumatic diseases
Rheumatic diseases include a variety of inflammatory athropathies such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) as well as non-inflammatory rheumatic diseases like osteoarthritis (OA). Those diseases share common clinical presentation but also present differences in pathogenesis, clinical and radiographic findings.
Those differences are translated into variances in the specificity and efficacy of therapies. New biologic agents targeting key immunological and inflammatory pathways has greatly improved patients treatment. However selection of the optimal treatment and identification of biomarkers that predict the best therapeutic options are unmet need.
Discovery of new biomarkers may assist in (i) the diagnosis of different arthritis disease types (ii) therapy prioritization to improve patient’s outcomes.
In addition, since the joints are the major inflammation site in rheumatic diseases, we are focusing on novel approaches to inhibit inflammatory immune populations in the synovium to resolve synovial inflammation in those diseases.
Our laboratory is located in close proximity to the rheumatology clinic allowing daily collaboration with the department and accessibility to human patient samples. We use advanced immunological, genetic, and molecular approaches.