Dissecting the Cellular and Molecular Atlas of Rheumatoid Arthritis in Sustained Remission to Identify Pathways Maintaining Remission and Triggering Flares

Overview

The FLARE-RA study will have the following research objectives:

1. To establish the cellular and molecular atlas of remission RA achieved with different therapeutics aimed to identify (i) cell clusters/pathways driving disease flare or maintaining remission and (ii) provide an evidence base for developing ML tools for predicting flares.
2. To test the performance of a ML-derived algorithm on longitudinal remission RA cohort in a biopsy-driven study.
3. To dissect the cellular and molecular mechanisms of remission maintenance and joint flares.

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Rheumatoid Arthritis classified based on the 2010 EULAR/ACR Classification Criteria
• Stable treatment with cDMARDs and/or bDMARDs (≥12 months)
• Stable remission status (at least DAS28-CRP<2.6) (≥6 months)
• No concomitant steroid treatment (≥6 months)
• Absence of Power-Doppler signal at ultrasound assessment (wrist, MCP, PIP, Knee, ankle and II-V MTP bilaterally) in 3 evaluations 3 months apart.

Exclusion Criteria:

• DAS28-CRP≥2.6
• Presence of Power-Doppler signal ≥1 at ultrasound assessment (wrist, MCP, PIP, Knee, ankle and II-V MTP bilaterally)
• Other chronic inflammatory disease