Spondyloarthropathies CSG
Introduction
The Spondyloarthropathies CSG is chaired by Professor Hill Gaston.
Steering group
The current membership is:
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Hill Gaston (Chair), Cambridge |
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Philip Helliwell, Leeds |
Millicent Stone, Bath |
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Andrew Keat, Northwick Park, London |
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Paul Wordsworth, Oxford |
In addition we are very keen to have patient input to the working of the group. To this end we have identified, with the help of patient organisations, a number of patients in different disease areas who are willing to give a patient perspective on the research proposals which we consider, and the overall strategy which we will follow.
Likewise, it is probable that we will need to co-opt additional members to the CSG as time goes on, though it will always remain a relatively small steering group rather than a representative body.
Group meetings
The first meeting of the CSG outlined the aims and future plans of the CSG. The CSG aims to meet several times a year and will hold additional teleconferences when appropriate.
Please click below for the minutes of the group meetings:
Date of meeting |
We will try to keep this website continuously updated, and use it as a forum for gathering proposals and responses to proposals. We will use the BSR SpA SIG membership list to communicate with the SpA community by e-mail.
Strategy
As part of arc’s new strategy for funding clinical trials, Clinical Studies Groups (CSGs) have been set up in six major clinical areas, one of which is spondyloarthritis (SpA) – i.e. ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, the arthritis of inflammatory bowel disease, reactive arthritis and undifferentiated spondyloarthritis. No decisions on whether other forms of arthritis (e.g. SAPHO) might be within our remit have been made and the CSG is open to suggestions on this.
Our principal goal is to devise a strategy for clinical studies in SpA which will result in well designed clinical trials which arc will wish to fund and which can be delivered with the help of the infrastructure put in place by the UK government in the form of clinical research networks. For how this works in practice, please click here.
Current proposals under consideration
Ankylosing spondylitis
- Add-on studies to a genome-wide association study of 2000 British AS cases sponsored by Wellcome Trust
- An Early Ankylosing Spondylitis study (150-200 patients)
- To ascertain predictors of poor prognosis amongst patients presenting with inflammatory back pain or early AS
- To produce useable criteria for diagnosis of early AS
- To establish whether early anti-TNF treatment induces lasting remission
Psoriatic arthritis
- Tight control of early psoriatic arthritis (modelled on TICORA)
- Predicting psoriatic arthritis – a longitudinal cohort study
- A genome-wide association study of psoriatic arthritis - on behalf of the PAGE (UK) Consortium
Further details of any of these studies can be made available to anyone who is interested.
Contact details
The Chair is always happy to receive proposals and comments.
For all enquiries and additional information, please contact: Professor Hill Gaston, chair of the Spondyloarthropathies CSG or his secretary Ms Hazel Mould.
