Clinical trial NCT00512343: Synovial Fluid Bank From Arthritic Patients
Official title: Establishment of a Bank of Synovial Fluids and Paired Sera From Arthritic Patients for the Evaluation of New Methods Facilitating the Diagnosis and the Monitoring of Progression and Therapy of Arthritis.
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: RECRUITING
Conditions: Arthritis
Keywords: Synovial Fluid
Arthritis
Paired serum/synovial fluid samples
Lead sponsor: Université de Sherbrooke
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Canadian Arthritis Network
First posted: 2007-08-07
Enrollment: 500
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 3
Maximum age (years): 95
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Observational model: COHORT
Time perspective: PROSPECTIVE
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: patients suffering from various arthritides (rheumatoid arthritis, gout and other microcristalline arthritides, osteoarthritis, spondylarthropathies, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, and various other diseases, including inflammatory polyarthritis of recent-onset in adults

Brief summary: The objectives of this group project is to collect synovial fluid (SF) and paired sera and carry out preclinical studies to evaluate, alone or by combination testings, the potential of novel biomarkers for their prevalence and diagnostic/prognostic values in patients with arthritis, and to determine how therapeutic intervention regulate their levels.

Detailed description: Our group has developed interdisciplinary expertise in biomarkers related to distinct aspects of inflammation-induced joint damage, most notably those associated with degradation of components of the extracellular matrix, bone loss, or associated with post-translational changes on protease inhibitors.

The objectives of this group project is to collect SF and paired sera and carry out preclinical studies to evaluate, alone or by combination testings, the potential of novel biomarkers for their prevalence and diagnostic/prognostic values in patients with arthritis, and to determine how therapeutic intervention regulate their levels.

More specifically, we will study (1) biomarkers associated with osteoclastic bone resorption and synthesis/degradation of cartilage, (2) inhibitors of enzymes (calpastatin) that are preferentially targeted by rheumatoid patients, as well as (3) enzymes (e.g. Matrix Metalloproteinases (MMPs)) responsible for the cleavage of components of the articular cartilage.

Finally, we propose to characterize the repertoire of specific active proteases in the SF of arthritic patients concomitantly to the use biomarkers (neoepitopes of cleaved collagens) previously associated with cartilage destruction and synthesis to identify new targets for the development of protease inhibitors for the treatment of arthritis. Furthermore, our project will also provide the opportunity to test the potential of measuring the net proteolytic activity by Fluorescent-Activated Substrate Conversion as a method of monitoring disease activity and treatment efficiency in a clinical setting.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Significant joint effusion

Exclusion Criteria:

* Hemorrhagic effusion
* Traumatic effusion
* Less than 3 ml total of collected fluid (used for routine analysis and culture)
* Inability or refusal to consent

Primary outcomes:
measure: Availability of paired synovial fluid and serum samples for exploratory studies
timeFrame: Use with various collaborators at different times, upon request and approbation
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Sherbrooke
country: Canada
facility: Centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke
state: Quebec
Study officials:
affiliation: CHUS and Université de Sherbrooke
name: Gilles Boire, MD, MSc
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Kilani RT, Maksymowych WP, Aitken A, Boire G, St-Pierre Y, Li Y, Ghahary A. Detection of high levels of 2 specific isoforms of 14-3-3 proteins in synovial fluid from patients with joint inflammation. J Rheumatol. 2007 Aug;34(8):1650-7. Epub 2007 Jul 1.
citation: Simard N, Boire G, de Brum-Fernandes AJ, St-Pierre Y. A novel approach to measure the contribution of matrix metalloproteinase in the overall net proteolytic activity present in synovial fluids of patients with arthritis. Arthritis Res Ther. 2006;8(4):R125. doi: 10.1186/ar2014.