Background
Goals
The project consortium focuses on:
- Investigating the possible superiority of early treatment of psoriatic SpA patients with biologic treatment as compared to standard of care.
- Delineating the window of opportunity for pSpA: a transient time frame in which a disease is more susceptible to treatment.
- Unraveling new biomarkers of therapy response using cutting-edge single cell technology and epigenetic profiling.
- Determining health-economic and societal impact of earlier and more biologic intensive treatment of patients with recent onset pSpA.
- Increasing awareness among referring physicians and patient-advocacy groups about the value of early recognition and treatment in rheumatology.
SPARTACUS will also explore the societal and economic impact of this new, temporally restricted biologics treatment and improved diagnosis.
Facts & Figures
Thematic area
Innovative biomarkers
Precision medicine will be improved by translating innovative molecular diagnostic paradigms into clinical practice
Innovative treatments
Precision medicine will be improved by translating new insights in molecular mechanisms of disease into clinical practice
Promotor
Partners
VIB-UGent
Koen Venken • Martin Guilliams
VIB-UGent-UZ Gent
Dirk Elewaut • Philippe Caron • Filip Van den Bosch • Peggy Jacques
KU Leuven-UZ Leuven
Maastricht UMC
BeGiant consortium
UZ Gent • Maria Middelares • ASZ Aalst • AZ Sint-Jan Brugge • AZ Sint-Lucas Brugge • ZNA Antwerpen • Sint-Augustinus Antwerpen • UZ Leuven • Reuma Instituut Hasselt

Contribution to the project
Dirk Elewaut and Martin Guilliams (VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation Research) deliver their expert knowledge on molecular immunology and inflammation, as well as access to the Single Cell Platform. Rik Lories and Frederik De Smet (KU Leuven Lab of Tissue Homeostasis and Disease) bring their expertise on epigenetics and CyTOF, while Annelies Boonen (Maastricht UMC, NL) will perform the health economic evaluation and budget impact analysis. Finally, the Department of Rheumatology at UZGent will be involved, as will the Be-GIANT Consortium (Gent university hospital, Maria Middelares-Gent, ASZ Aalst, AZ Sint-Jan Brugge, AZ Sint-Lucas Brugge, ZNA-Antwerpen, Sint-Augustinus Antwerpen, Leuven university hospital, Reuma Instituut Hasselt), which was set up to create a unique cohort of newly diagnosed SpA patients (currently 400 patients and counting).
Capabilities
The objective of the VIB-GC program is to significantly increase the societal impact of VIB, hence taking its scientific leadership to the next level of global visibility, strategies between partners towards sharing of capabilities (samples, data, infrastructure) are prerequisite and motivated within the VIB GCP, aligned with the general principles of RRI and the Open Science policy of VIB in particular.
Expected impact
SPARTACUS will determine the health-economic and societal impact of earlier and more biologic intensive treatment through the use of 2 years’ worth of actual patient data and a model-based lifelong incremental cost-utility analysis from a healthcare and a societal perspective. The researchers will also work to increase awareness about the value of early recognition and treatment in rheumatology among referring physicians and patient advocacy groups. These results will be used in direct negotiations with health authorities in Belgium to change current reimbursement criteria for SpA therapy.
Dirk Elewaut: " We are thrilled with having Spartacus approved as a VIB Grand Challenges project. Spartacus has the ambition to revolutionize the outcome of patients suffering from early peripheral spondyloarthritis (one of the most common forms of chronic arthritis) by reverting a chronic disease demanding lifelong medication into a temporary one by inducing drug free remission through early but temporary treatment with biologics. By coupling a randomized clinical trial with high end molecular profiling in synovial tissue we additionally aim to develop tools facilitating prediction of patients that could benefit from such a strategy. Importantly, Spartacus will also assess the health economic benefit of such an early intervention strategy”.
Contact
