Development of new tools for prediction and prevention of RA (PREDICT RA)
Concept
Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is such a disease where the abnormal body‘s reaction leads to formation of antibodies. We and others have shown that the lungs and the oral cavity (that are exposed to smoking and others pollutants) might be the starting point for the body‘s reactions in RA.
We are developing better tools to identify these persons, such as e-health web based questionnaires. We study how environmental factors interact with the body tissues (lungs and oral cavity) to give rise to disease-associated antibodies and how these antibodies contribute to pain and bone loss. This will allow each person to get more insights into the risk of developing RA and in what one can do self to minimise it.
Facts and Figures
A H Hensvold
Karolinska Institutet
aase.hensvold@ki.se
Meet the Team
University of Amsterdan
University of Leeds
Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève
Objectives
To characterize the mechanisms responsible for antibody production at mucosal sites (lung and oral mucosa) in order to identify novel mucosal biomarkers that predict RA development.
Interim Results
A common protocol for including individuals and collecting samples, harmonized between centers, have been worked out. So far we have included 39 subjects.
Publications
- K Eriksson, G Fei, A Lundmark, D Benchimol, L Lee, Y Hu, A Kats, S Saevarsdottir, A Catrina, B Klinge, A F. Andersson, L Klareskog, K Lundberg, L Jansson, T Yucel-Lindberg. Periodontal Health and Oral Microbiota in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis. Clin Med. 2019 May 8;8(5).
Read more - Akilan Krishnamurthy, A. Jimmy Ytterberg, Meng Sun, Koji Sakuraba, Johanna Steen, Vijay Joshua, Nataliya K. Tarasova, Vivianne Malmström, Heidi Wähämaa, Bence Réthi and Anca I. Catrina. Citrullination Controls Dendritic Cell Transdifferentiation into Osteoclasts. J Immunol June 1, 2019, 202 (11) 3143-3150; doi.org/10.4049/jimmunol.1800534
Read publication
Patient Voice
A specific part of the budget (10%) is dedicated to facilitate patient partners participation to meetings and other research activities.
Patient research partners have given feedback and suggested changes have been integrated.
Specifically, patient partners will be involved in developing tools for measuring patient relevant outcomes (pain), for improving recruitment (e-health tools to facilitate access to rheumatology units), for risk communication tools and for implementation of life-style changes (such as apps for quitting smoking and motivate for increased physical activity).