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Supervisor View 2
October 3, 2016
Supervisor View Full Details 2nd
October 12, 2016

Prof Oliver FitzGerald

Department:Rheumatology/Medicine

Division:Conway Institute for Biomolecular and Biomedical<br /> Research

Organisation:University College Dublin

Webpage:http://www.ucd.ie/medicine/ourresearch/researchgroups/rheumatologyresearchgroup/

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Research Fields
  • genetics, genomics and molecular biology
  • infectious disease and the immune system
Postgrad Medical Specialites
  • Medicine
Medical Subspecialties
  • Rheumatology
My Work

Prof FitzGerald has published more than 250 peer reviewed papers, many on the subject of inflammatory arthritis, in particular psoriatic arthritis. His main research interests in psoriatic arthritis include clinical and therapeutic studies; analysis of synovial and skin cellular and cytokine profiles; and, more recently, genetic and proteomic studies focused on trying to understand the molecular basis of disease heterogeneity and treatment response. We have shown that certain HLA antigens are not only contributing to disease susceptibility but are also important in determining clinical characteristics such as the duration between onset of skin psoriasis and arthritis or whether a patient has symmetrical or asymmetrical sacroiliac involvement. Using a proteomic approach in collaboration with Prof Steve Pennington at the Conway Institute, UCD our current focus is exploring whether these genotypes initiate qualitatively different immune responses. We are using several different platforms (Luminex, LC-MS/MS and SomaScan) to examine this question. We are also establishing additional patient cohorts which using a similar proteomic approach will address questions such as how to predict disease development or how to predict treatment response.

Potential Projects

Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a common form of inflammatory arthritis with prevalence ranging from 0.1-1%. 10-40% of patients with Psoriasis (Pso) will develop an erosive inflammatory arthritis (Haroon, ARD 2015). PsA is a complex disease in which, as yet unidentified, environmental factors trigger disease in genetically susceptible individuals. The genetic contribution is high with previous studies estimating the risk to first degree relatives to be 4.38 for Rheumatoid Arthritis (Grant, A&R 2001) and ~39 for PsA (Karason, Rheumatology, 2009). Importantly, the risk of developing PsA is enriched in patients with Pso; a recent prospective longitudinal study has found an incidence of new-onset PsA of 2.7% per annum in PsO patients (Eder, A&R 2016). Thus, subjects with Pso represent a high risk group for the development of PsA.

Hypothesis: A combination of demographic, genetic and biochemical parameters can be used to identify subjects at high risk of developing PsA, where the level of risk is sufficient to justify therapeutic intervention in subjects with psoriasis.

Specific Goals: Our long term goal is to prevent PsA. Initially, it will be necessary to:
? establish a robust strategy for identifying subjects at high risk of developing PsA using a combination of demographic, genetic and biochemical factors;
? refine risk stratification/estimates during cohort follow-up to identify those at highest risk.

Methodology: Pso patients, without PsA, referred to a dermatology clinic (Prof B Kirby, SVUH) are being recruited (>200 to date). Our primary objective is to assess the incidence of PsA among Pso patients over a five year period. Our secondary objective is to identify clinical, laboratory (using a novel proteomic approach in collaboration with Prof S Pennington UCD, Conway) and genetic predictors (in collaboration with Prof R Winchester, Columbia University, New York) of the development of PsA. Patients with known PsA will be included as a control group.