Personalized medicine, big data, and monogenic inflammatory diseases are just a few of the high points of pediatric rheumatology sessions at this year’s EULAR Congress.

EULAR Standing Committee Chairperson for Paediatric Rheumatology Berent J. Prakken, MD, PhD, said that a bench-to-bedside session on Wednesday afternoon would highlight how EULAR projects are driving advances in pediatric rheumatology.

Attendees will learn from Vicki Seyfert-Margolis, PhD, an internationally recognized expert in personalized medicine, about how digital tools can facilitate cross-border partnerships in pediatric rheumatology, Dr. Prakken said in an interview.

“This talk will be groundbreaking because it’s not just about another useful app,” said Dr. Prakken, professor of pediatric rheumatology and vice dean of education at University Medical Center Utrecht (the Netherlands). “Dr. Seyfert-Margolis will show how the digital revolution will change the way we communicate with patients, monitor disease, and develop novel models for clinical trials.”

The session will also cover work by the Understanding Childhood Arthritis Network (UCAN), created to facilitate international translational research in pediatric rheumatology. Speakers will describe how UCAN is helping to spur personalized medicine and working with the Pediatric Rheumatology International Trials Organization (PRINTO) to align bench and bedside perspectives.

Another program highlight is a Thursday afternoon session on connections between monogenic autoinflammatory and pediatric rheumatic diseases. “Groundbreaking studies of these rare genetic inflammatory diseases have provided important new insights that, in turn, have led to new therapeutic options,” said Dr. Prakken.

During the session, Joost Swart, MD, of Utrecht, the Netherlands, will discuss promising research on the intravenous use of mesenchymal stromal cells derived from bone marrow for the treatment of refractory juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).

Dr. Swart, who helped pioneer the approach, will discuss the first phase I/II trial of its use in children. “This is a truly innovative way to handle refractory inflammation,” Dr. Prakken said.

The session on monogenic autoinflammatory diseases also will cover their clinical presentation in children and adults, their pathogenesis as compared with adult-onset rheumatic diseases, and emerging treatment options, according to Dr. Prakken.

On Friday afternoon, a pediatric session will feature big data science in pediatric rheumatology, a lightning-paced field that is generating new research and treatment paradigms.

Of special note, Salvatore Albani, MD, PhD, will discuss how the human immunome is revolutionizing personalized treatment of paediatric inflammatory diseases, Dr. Prakken said. “This is the first application of big data to develop a completely new, personalized map of the human immune system,” he added. “This technology has the potential to revolutionize human clinical immunology, and it may be the key to true precision medicine in inflammatory diseases.”

Other talks in the session will cover signaling pathways in childhood systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), galectin-9 as a biomarker in juvenile dermatomyositis, and evidence from the phase 3 PRINTO trial on how best to taper corticosteroids in patients with new-onset juvenile dermatomyositis.

Another crucial topic in pediatric rheumatology is systemic hyperinflammation, a potentially life-threatening situation requiring rapid detection and treatment.

A Saturday morning session will dive deeply into this topic. First, Sebastiaan Vastert, MD, PhD, will share a birds-eye view of systemic inflammation in JIA, setting the stage for a discussion by Angelo Ravelli, MD, of challenges in diagnosing macrophage activation syndrome, which disproportionately affects JIA patients.

Also during the session, Fabrizio de Benedetti, MD, PhD, will review new findings on the pathogenesis of hyperinflammation and how they can guide therapeutic development. Rounding off the session, Rebecca Davies will present research on first-onset uveitis in patients receiving etanercept or methotrexate to treat JIA. “Attendees will learn new insights about diagnosing and treating systemic inflammation in children,” Dr. Prakken said.

Once the dust has settled on the EULAR Congress in Amsterdam, delegates can look forward to the 2019 EULAR Congress in Madrid, which will be held jointly with the Paediatric Rheumatology European Society, further integrating the fields of pediatric and adult rheumatology.

EULAR pediatric sessions to highlight big data, personalized medicine