Project R-13519

Anti-UH-RA antibody reactivity for prediction of response to first-line therapy in rheumatoid arthritis: validation in the independent CAP48 cohort. (Research)

The main goal of the current treatments for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is to gain rapid control of the ongoing inflammation in an early disease phase. Although currently recommended first-line therapies have been successful in controlling disease in many patients, the remaining non- responding patients can experience a prolonged period of high disease activity. However, finding out which patients will fail to respond to first-line therapies still largely depends on trial and error, and would greatly benefit from novel biomarkers that predict this therapy response at baseline, even before treatment is initiated. To address this problem, we recently identified a set of 3 novel antibody biomarkers which are present at disease onset, and allow to identify those RA patients that are less likely to achieve disease control using the classic first-line treatment options. In the current study, we want to confirm these findings using an independent collection of RA patient samples, from the Belgian CAP48 cohort. In addition to the classic immunoglobulin (Ig)G isotype, also the IgM and IgA isotypes of our antibody biomarkers will be determined, which will likely allow to identify an additional portion of non-responding patients. Finally, we will investigate how the levels of our antibody biomarkers evolve after firstline therapy has been initiated. Overall, these studies are necessary to be able to implement the future use of these antibodies as biomarkers for precision medicine. This way, these antibody biomarkers would provide a novel tool for rheumatologists to provide the right therapy for the right patient.

01 October 2022 - 01 December 2023