Euro-TEAM

Euro-TEAM aims towards early diagnosis and biomarker validation in arthritis management. An ideal intervention in a chronic inflammatory disease such as Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) would be a preventive one.

Aims

In order to develop preventive strategies and therapies two key developments need to occur: (1) Biomarkers need to be identified that can be used to predict an individual’s risk of developing RA. (2) Modifiable disease mechanisms need to be identified and characterized in the early phases of disease.

The key objective of the TEAM consortium is to specifically identify diagnostic biomarkers and disease mechanisms operating during the transition from health to rheumatoid arthritis. The consortium will achieve this by developing a collaborative, integrated programme of work that links researchers with key SMEs involved in biomarker development to produce a “personalized predictive bioprofile” for patients destined to develop RA.

A separate work package will address issues on risk communication, with these objectives:

• To understand the current perspective of individuals in different pre-RA phases about: (1) RA; (2) the meaning and perception of “risk” and “risk assessment”; (3) the utility of predictive tests in the context of RA; (4) their willingness to undergo predictive tests for RA.
• To develop strategies and tools for communication with and education of individuals in different pre-RA phases about: (1) the different stages of RA and the prognosis of RA; (2) the role of interacting biomarkers in prediction of the development of RA; (3) how lifestyle and behaviour factors affect the risk of developing RA and how these can / should be modulated.
• To assess the impact of these communication and education strategies on an individual’s willingness to undergo predictive tests and their subsequent behaviour.
• To disseminate information from this project to relevant stakeholders.

Funding

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement FP7-HEALTH-F2-2012-305549.

About Euro-TEAM

Euro-TEAM is coordinated by Christopher Buckley at the University of Birmingham. Uppsala University with Mats Hansson and the CRB team working with ethical and legal issues associated with biobank and registry research is partner of EURO-TEAM and will work with issues related to risk communication.

Contact at CRB

• Mats G. Hansson, Professor of Biomedical Ethics
• Deborah Mascalzoni, PhD Bioethics, Senior Researcher