Connective Tissue Disorder

In parallel with the growth of ATHN's clinical studies, the number of new therapies for all blood disorders is increasing significantly. Some of the recently FDA-approved therapies for congenital and acquired hematologic conditions have not yet demonstrated long-term safety and effectiveness beyond the pivotal trials that led to their approval. In addition, results from well controlled, pivotal studies often cannot be replicated once a therapy has been approved for general use.2,3,4,5 In 2019 alone, the FDA has issued approvals for 24 new therapies for congenital and acquired hematologic conditions.6 In addition, almost 10,000 new studies for hematologic diseases are currently registered on www.clinicaltrials.gov.7 With this increase in potential new therapies possible, it is imperative that clinicians and clinical researchers in the field of non-neoplastic hematology have a uniform, secure, unbiased, and enduring method to collect long-term safety and efficacy data. As emphasized in a recently published review, accurate, uniform and quality national data collection is critical in clinical research, particularly for longitudinal cohort studies covering a lifetime of biologic risk.8

We propose to acquire data and blood samples on all patients being cared for by the Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) program. Additionally, we will collect data and blood samples from a control group for comparator purposes. In doing so, we will be able to describe the "phenotypic" expression of these diseases.

In parallel with the growth of ATHN's clinical studies, the number of new therapies for all blood disorders is increasing significantly. Some of the recently FDA-approved therapies for congenital and acquired hematologic conditions have not yet demonstrated long-term safety and effectiveness beyond the pivotal trials that led to their approval. In addition, results from well controlled, pivotal studies often cannot be replicated once a therapy has been approved for general use.2,3,4,5 In 2019 alone, the FDA has issued approvals for 24 new therapies for congenital and acquired hematologic conditions.6 In addition, almost 10,000 new studies for hematologic diseases are currently registered on www.clinicaltrials.gov.7 With this increase in potential new therapies possible, it is imperative that clinicians and clinical researchers in the field of non-neoplastic hematology have a uniform, secure, unbiased, and enduring method to collect long-term safety and efficacy data. As emphasized in a recently published review, accurate, uniform and quality national data collection is critical in clinical research, particularly for longitudinal cohort studies covering a lifetime of biologic risk.8

The MONIRITUX study aimed to evaluate whether monitoring (i) circulating B-cell reconstitution or (ii) serum rituximab levels could help identify relapse of autoimmune diseases in patients treated with rituximab. Retrospective data suggest that B-cell reconstitution or the appearance of anti-drug antibodies are associated with rituximab's failure to prevent relapses (i.e. rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, autoimmune cytopenia...). According to the routine care provided by our institution, patients undergoing rituximab therapy are monitored every three months during the first year after treatment induction and every six months thereafter. At each clinical visit, a blood test is performed to quantify total gammaglobulins, IgG and CD19+ cells (along with other tests depending on the disease). This study will use the remaining blood in the tubes from routine care to quantify CD27+ and CD38+ B cells, as well as serum rituximab and anti-rituximab antibodies, during the first year of follow-up. The primary outcome will be to identify risk factors for clinical relapse according to circulating B-cell or rituximab status.