Arthritis Clinical Trials in Phoenix, AZ

The most clinically meaningful way to discover new targets of T cells in autoimmune diseases is to study the tissues of patients with active autoimmune disease mediated organ inflammation. These tissues contain both cytotoxic and helper T cells that are driving their disease, and these T cells are being guided by TCRs that recognize tissue-specific targets. By collecting tissue when a patient has active inflammation, it is possible to determine which T cells are activated and undergoing clonal expansion in the patient's diseased organ. TScan has developed a genome-wide, high-throughput technology to determine the natural, physiological target of any TCR (Kula, 2019). The goal of this study is to isolate T cells from inflamed tissues and matched blood samples and/or matched normal tissues (for patients with inflammatory bowel diseases). T cell clones that are expanded in diseased tissues relative to blood or normal tissues will be selected and the targets of their TCRs will be defined using TScan's genome-wide, high-throughput target ID technology. The goal of this study is to discover a collection of peptide targets, along with their associated TCRs to be developed as new tolerogenic therapies for patients with autoimmune diseases. Read Less

This randomized pragmatic trial will generate knowledge about strategies used to de-escalate tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) therapy in patients with juvenile spondyloarthritis with sustained inactive disease and are treated at one of the 29 participating pediatric healthcare systems. This open label study will be conducted in the setting of routine clinical care and will compare the risk and timing of flare (Aim 1) and patients' lived experiences (Aim 2) across three arms. Read Less

The COVID-19 VaccinE Response in Rheumatology patients (COVER) study is a multicenter randomized controlled trial designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a mRNA COVID-19 vaccine supplemental dose (booster) in patients with autoimmune conditions and to evaluate the impact of different immunomodulatory therapies on vaccine response. The investigators propose to recruit up to 1000- patients with autoimmune conditions who have a completed 2-dose regime of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (>28 days prior) and who are planning to receive an additional dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (i.e., booster). Participants in this study will be men and women 18 years and older with confirmed rheumatic disease, including psoriatic arthritis (PsA), axial spondyloarthritis (SpA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who express a decision to receive the mRNA vaccination booster within 30 days post enrollment. A primary objective of this study is to test the hypothesis that holding certain medications for a brief period of time around the time of COVID-19 vaccination might improve the response to the vaccine while not unduly having safety concerns with respect to the effects of their disease. During the study, participants using the immunomodulatory therapies described outlined in protocol will be randomized to temporarily hold (for 2 weeks) versus continue after they receive the COVID-19 vaccine supplemental dose. Patients who temporarily stop one of their medications for their autoimmune inflammatory disease may be at increased risk of flares of their autoimmune condition. If these occur, they are expected to occur within 2 - 4 weeks of treatment interruption. Detailed protocol outlines the hold schedules for the therapies to be randomized in this study. Read Less

Previous motion analysis studies have demonstrated excellent ability to distinguish subtle differences in gait between normal subjects and those suffering from arthritis. With proper techniques and analysis differences between osteoarthritis patient groups can be distinguished. Previous research has indicated that subjects who received a single-radius design total knee replacement have superior gait performance that those who received a multi-radius design total knee replacement. The DJO Global Empowr PS Knee System is a single-radius lateral pivot design. This design should achieve reproducible more natural knee function and improved patient outcomes and satisfaction. A motion analysis laboratory will be used to collect gait data from patients who are going to receive a Empowr PS knee device and also from age-matched control subjects. These data will be compared with data previously collected from patients who received Stryker Triathlon devices, Biomet Vanguard devices and age-matched healthy control subjects. Read Less