New diagnostic procedures for more effective treatment

The research project PREDICT-CTD is being funded with €2.7 million from the zukunft.niedersachsen funding programme. Over the next five years, the team of researchers from TWINCORE, the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and Hannover Medical School (MHH), led by Dr Theresa Graalmann and Prof. Yannic Bartsch, aims to develop a new diagnostic procedure for rheumatic diseases such as systemic sclerosis and lupus erythematosus.

Autoimmune diseases such as systemic sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus or Sjögren's syndrome cause inflammatory reactions in the connective tissue. They are therefore grouped together as connective tissue diseases (CTD) and are classified as rare rheumatic diseases. ‘Although the symptoms of the various connective tissue diseases can vary greatly, patients can generally be divided into two groups based on their immune responses,’ says Theresa Graalmann. ‘Either the body's own antibodies cause the inflammatory response, or it is caused by the overactivity of certain messenger substances in the immune system.’ The optimal therapy depends on the cause of the disease. However, there are currently no reliable diagnostic tools available to precisely distinguish between the two groups.

This is where the PREDICT-CTD (PREcision DIagnostics to CombaT Connective Tissue Diseases) consortium comes in. The interdisciplinary team of basic researchers, clinicians and clinician scientists, who conduct research and care for patients, aims to use state-of-the-art multi-omics technologies such as genetic diagnostics and immunological phenotyping to investigate the causes of collagenosis in more detail. ‘The insights gained will help us develop more precise diagnostic procedures,’ says Yannic Bartsch. This should enable personalised and targeted treatment of patients, thereby improving the care of these complex and rare diseases.

In addition to Dr Theresa Graalmann, head of the Clinical Junior Research Group Translational Immunology at TWINCORE, and Prof. Dr. Yannic Bartsch, head of the Helmholtz Young Investigator Group Antiviral Antibody-Omics, the researchers Dr. Sandra von Hardenberg from the Institute of Human Genetics at the MHH and Prof. Ulrich Kalinke, Director of the Institute for Experimental Infection Research and Managing Director of TWINCORE, are also involved in the project. Clinical expertise is provided by MHH physicians Dr Frank Dressler from the Department of Paediatric Pneumology, Allergology and Neonatology, Prof. Dr Thorsten Witte from the Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, and Dr Stephan Traidl from the Department of Dermatology and Allergology.

‘We are very pleased about the funding commitment from the MWK Lower Saxony and the Volkswagen Foundation,’ says Ulrich Kalinke. ‘Research projects like this are only possible because we maintain such close ties with the Hannover Medical School. This collaboration is at the heart of our translational research at the interface between science and medicine.’