Biomarkers: Project Update from the GRAPPA 2012 Annual Meeting

2013 ◽  
Vol 40 (8) ◽  
pp. 1453-1454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver FitzGerald ◽  
Philip J. Mease

For members of the Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis (GRAPPA), an important goal has been the identification of soluble biomarkers in psoriatic arthritis that might predict the development of radiographic progression. Work over the past year has resulted in approval of a draft protocol, and an announcement is forthcoming of the outcome of an assessment process for centers that applied to manage the project. GRAPPA is now ready to commence formal negotiations with potential funding partners and intends to initiate this project in the near future.

2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (11) ◽  
pp. 2189-2192 ◽  
Author(s):  
OLIVER FITZGERALD ◽  
CHRISTOPHER T. RITCHLIN ◽  
PHILIP J. MEASE

Clinical markers of radiographic progression have been studied in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and results have clearly confirmed the progression of radiographic damage over a 2-year period. Biomarkers of radiographic progression damage (erosion and new bone formation) have also been identified as a critical research issue in these patients. At the 2011 annual meeting of the Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis (GRAPPA), members discussed development of a pivotal observational study (PsA Biodam study) to determine the validity of several soluble biomarkers in predicting structural damage in patients with PsA receiving standard therapies. Specific protocol issues discussed were the inclusion criteria, selection of candidate biomarkers, timing of sample collection, the primary radiographic outcome measure, radiographic scoring methods, possible substudies, and funding strategies.


2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 949-951 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolf-Henning Boehncke ◽  
Dafna D. Gladman ◽  
Philip S. Helliwell

The 2015 Annual Meeting of the Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis (GRAPPA) was held in Stockholm, Sweden, and attended by rheumatologists, dermatologists, and representatives of biopharmaceutical companies and patient groups. In this prologue, we introduce the articles that summarize that meeting. As in previous years, GRAPPA members held a Trainees Symposium, providing an opportunity for trainees to discuss their research in psoriatic disease with experts in the field. Two dermatology sessions were held: an update on the International Dermatology Outcome Measures group; and a description of a new tool, the Comprehensive Assessment of the Psoriasis Patient, to more accurately assess the full burden of plaque psoriasis and its subtypes. Four distinct plenary sessions were held to update members on the status of the Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT) initiative. GRAPPA’s patient research partners discussed their 2 years of involvement in GRAPPA activities and were active in several sessions before and during the 2015 annual meeting. New work was presented toward developing a patient-reported instrument to measure flare in psoriatic disease, and the status of GRAPPA’s multiple research and continuing education programs in psoriasis and PsA was summarized. Finally, a Presidential Round Table was held in which the past, current, and incoming presidents reflected on GRAPPA’s history and provided insights about its future.


2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 434-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAFNA D. GLADMAN ◽  
CHRISTOPHER T. RITCHLIN ◽  
OLIVER FITZGERALD

At the 2010 annual meeting of the Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis (GRAPPA), wide-ranging discussions were held regarding biomarker research in psoriatic disease. Consensus was reached on 2 areas of priority: (1) the study of soluble biomarkers of radiographic progression in psoriatic arthritis (PsA); and (2) the analysis of comorbidity biomarkers, specifically cardiovascular and articular, in a psoriasis inception cohort. For each of these areas, rigorous definition of the clinical phenotype of PsA will be essential. To date, 2 instruments have been identified to define the phenotype: the ClASsification of Psoriatic ARthritis criteria and various screening questionnaires. In this overview, we discuss the challenges of the clinical phenotype of PsA and review GRAPPA plans for developing a research program for biomarker discovery.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhishek Kumar ◽  
Neeraj Masand ◽  
Vaishali M. Patil

Abstract: Breast cancer is the most common and highly heterogeneous neoplastic disease comprised of several subtypes with distinct molecular etiology and clinical behaviours. The mortality observed over the past few decades and the failure in eradicating the disease is due to the lack of specific etiology, molecular mechanisms involved in initiation and progression of breast cancer. Understanding of the molecular classes of breast cancer may also lead to new biological insights and eventually to better therapies. The promising therapeutic targets and novel anti-cancer approaches emerging from these molecular targets that could be applied clinically in the near future are being highlighted. In addition, this review discusses some of the details of current molecular classification and available chemotherapeutics


Author(s):  
John Hunsley ◽  
Eric J. Mash

Evidence-based assessment relies on research and theory to inform the selection of constructs to be assessed for a specific assessment purpose, the methods and measures to be used in the assessment, and the manner in which the assessment process unfolds. An evidence-based approach to clinical assessment necessitates the recognition that, even when evidence-based instruments are used, the assessment process is a decision-making task in which hypotheses must be iteratively formulated and tested. In this chapter, we review (a) the progress that has been made in developing an evidence-based approach to clinical assessment in the past decade and (b) the many challenges that lie ahead if clinical assessment is to be truly evidence-based.


1991 ◽  
Vol 17 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 145-180
Author(s):  
Evan Ackiron

Patents and other statutory types of market protections are used in the United States to promote scientific research and innovation. This incentive is especially important in research intensive fields such as the pharmaceutical industry. Unfortunately, these same protections often result in higher monopoly pricing once a successful product is brought to market. Usually this consequence is viewed as the necessary evil of an incentive system that encourages costly research and development by promising large rewards to the successful inventor. However, in the case of the AIDS drug Zidovudine (AZT), the high prices charged by the pharmaceutical company owning the drug have led to public outcry and a re-examination of government incentive systems.This Note traces the evolution of these incentive programs — the patent system, and, to a lesser extent, the orphan drug program — and details the conflicting interests involved in their development. It then demonstrates how the AZT problem brings the interest of providing inventors with incentives for risky innovative efforts into a sharp collision with the ultimate goal of such systems: ensuring that the public has access to the resulting products at a reasonable price. Finally, the Note describes how Congress and the courts have attempted to resolve these problems in the past, and how they might best try to solve the AZT problem in the near future.


Blood ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 124 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shernan G. Holtan ◽  
Marcelo Pasquini ◽  
Daniel J. Weisdorf

Abstract Over the past 5 years, many novel approaches to early diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) have been translated from the bench to the bedside. In this review, we highlight recent discoveries in the context of current aGVHD care. The most significant innovations that have already reached the clinic are prophylaxis strategies based upon a refinement of our understanding of key sensors, effectors, suppressors of the immune alloreactive response, and the resultant tissue damage from the aGVHD inflammatory cascade. In the near future, aGVHD prevention and treatment will likely involve multiple modalities, including small molecules regulating immunologic checkpoints, enhancement of suppressor cytokines and cellular subsets, modulation of the microbiota, graft manipulation, and other donor-based prophylaxis strategies. Despite long-term efforts, major challenges in treatment of established aGVHD still remain. Resolution of inflammation and facilitation of rapid immune reconstitution in those with only a limited response to corticosteroids is a research arena that remains rife with opportunity and urgent clinical need.


2008 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristian Kristiansen

When I agreed to present the article as a vehicle for discussion at a session at the EAA's annual meeting in Zadar, Croatia, I decided to approach the question of a European archaeology from what I considered to be the three organizing pillars of archaeological practice: heritage, theory and publications. Heritage is the dominant organizational/legislative framework for archaeological practice, and it is where most of the money is spent. Theory, on the other hand, organizes most of our interpretations of the past, while publications are still the most common way of presenting the results of both heritage work (mostly excavations) and interpretations of that work. In this way I hoped to have encircled the dominant parameters for a diagnosis of the archaeological landscapes in Europe. I assumed that there might be some correlation between the three, and that such observed common trends within two or more variables would strengthen the argument, to paraphrase processual jargon.


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