Biomarkers and imaging for diagnosis and stratification of rheumatoid arthritis and spondylarthritis in the BMBF consortium ArthroMark

Abstract

Rheumatic diseases are among the most common chronic inflammatory disorders. Besides severe pain and progressive destruction of the joints, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), spondyloarthritides (SpA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) impair working ability, reduce quality of life and if treated insufficiently may enhance mortality. With the introduction of biologics to treat these diseases, the demand for biomarkers of early diagnosis and therapeutic stratification has been growing continuously. The main goal of the consortium ArthroMark is to identify new biomarkers and to apply modern imaging technologies for diagnosis, follow-up assessment and stratification of patients with RA, SpA and PsA. With the development of new biomarkers for these diseases, the ArthroMark project contributes to research in chronic diseases of the musculoskeletal system. The cooperation between different national centers will utilize site-specific resources, such as biobanks and clinical studies for sharing and gainful networking of individual core areas in biomarker analysis. Joint data management and harmonization of data assessment as well as best practice characterization of patients with new imaging technologies will optimize quality of marker validation.