Research project
Next Generation ImmunoDermatology project
The objective of the Next Generation ImmunoDermatology project (funding NWO, program NWA-ORC) is to deep profile the immune-mediated inflammatory diseases: i) atopic dermatitis (AD), ii) cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) iii) chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) iv) hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) v) cutaneous T-cell lymphoma subtype mycosis fungoides (MF) and vi) plaque psoriasis (PSO) for the identification of biomarkers that can identify different disease endotypes that can predict treatment response to enable future personalization of care.
- Contact
- Nikita Koster
- Funding
- NWO, program NWA-ORC
- Partners
The main goal of this PhD project is to establish highest level of medical-scientific evidence for the six immune-mediated inflammatory skin diseases through prospective and controlled studies in real word. Depending on disease prevalence and patient availability the following group sizes will be enrolled (preliminary group sizes): psoriasis (N=160 patients), lupus (N=120), atopic dermatitis (N=120), mycosis fungoides (N=120), urticaria (N=120), hidradenitis (N=120). Cross sectional cohorts of healthy volunteers will be used for comparison. The studies will be performed in different iterative cycles: 1st observational (exploratory) and 2nd real-world setting, with a broad spectrum of disease severities (mild, moderate and severe).The studies are conducted per disease in different centralized locations: psoriasis (RUMC, MUMC referring), atopic dermatitis (EMC; UMCU, AUMC referring), HS (EMC, UMCG referring), urticaria (EMC, UMCU referring), CLE (LUMC; AUMC, EMC referring), MF (LUMC; AUMC, EMC referring).
One important focus of this PhD project will be on the disease urticaria. Chronic urticaria (CU) is a group of skin disorders defined by recurrent itchy or burning wheals or angioedema that recur for more than six weeks. This can be either with a specific trigger factor (Chronic Inducible Urticaria, CIndU), or without (Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria, CSU). Both subtypes of chronic urticaria will be examined in this PhD project through exploratory clinical studies to describe characteristics and explore novel biomarkers. In the second part of the thesis – a more general comparison of these inflammatory skin diseases will be performed.