NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—In patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) refractory to treatment with rituximab or tocilizumab, genetic profiling of synovial biopsies predicted the lack of therapeutic response better than a model using only tissue pathology or clinical factors, researchers say.1 “We believe this study is a paradigm shift in precision medicine in RA,” Dr. Costantino…
Study Shows Synovial Biopsy May Soon Lead to Precision Medicine
A confluence of advances in knowledge and technology is closing in on the day when therapies for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may be specifically targeted to the precise variant and stage of disease. “Precision medicine is in the future, and not the distant future but more in the immediate future,” says Harris R. Perlman,…
Study Finds Correlations Between Synovial Tissue & Gene Expression
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) can be typed, grouped and categorized in different ways, and subgroup identification could help guide future research and treatment strategies based on which subtypes respond to which treatment. A new study explored an approach associating gene expression profiling with histologic analysis of synovium samples to define RA subtypes and then examined how…
Psoriatic Arthritis Research Continues Hunt for Biomarkers
AMSTERDAM—Molecular signatures in synovial tissue that can be gathered through biopsies are a largely untapped resource that could help guide treatment for rheumatic conditions, an expert said at the EULAR: Annual European Congress of Rheumatology. “I’m convinced that looking into synovial tissue provides us with tools to not only understand mechanisms of disease in rheumatoid…
Synovial Analysis Identifies Distinct Rheumatoid Arthritis Subtypes
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Synovial gene expression and histology can be used to divide rheumatoid arthritis (RA) into high, low, and mixed inflammatory subtypes, according to results from the Accelerating Medicine Partnership: RA/SLE Network. “The actionable implication of these findings is that it may be worth considering synovial biopsies in patients who are not responding to…