Publications

Background and aims Endoscopy and the use of fecal calprotectin (fecal CP) are among the least favored methods for assessing disease activity by inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients; the handling/processing of fecal samples is also impractical. Therefore, we sought to develop a novel neo-epi...

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• IBD
• Gastrointestinal
• Crohn's disease
• Ulcerative colitis
• Neutrophil activity

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a disease with multiple endotypes. A hallmark of OA is loss of cartilage; however, it is evident that the rate of cartilage loss differs among patients, which may partly be attributed to differential capacity for cartilage repair. We hypothesize that a low cartilag...

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• Osteoarthritis
• Osteoarthritis Cartilage
• Biomarkers

Objective: To compare C-reactive protein (CRP) and matrix metalloproteinase-generated neoepitope of CRP (CRPM) as biomarkers of inflammation and radiographic severity in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Methods: Participants with symptomatic osteoarthritis (n=25) of at least one knee underwent kn...

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• Extracellular Matrix Research
• Osteoarthritis

Objectives: There is a need for precision medicine and an unspoken promise of an optimal approach for identification of the right patients for value-based medicine based on big data. However, there may be a misconception that measurement of proteins is more valuable than measurement of fewer selecte...

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• Biomarker Insights
• Extracellular Matrix Research

Introduction: Enzymatic cross-linking of the collagens within the extracellular matrix (ECM) catalyzed by enzymes such as lysyl oxidase (LOX) and lysyl oxidase like-enzymes 1-4 (LOXL), transglutaminase 2 (TG2), and peroxidasin (PXDN) contribute to fibrosis progression through extensive collagen cros...

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• Fibrosis
• Extracellular matrix (ECM);

Objective: To investigate acute changes in biochemical markers of cartilage turnover in response to moderate intensity exercise with and without joint impact in humans with knee osteoarthritis. Design: We conducted a randomized, cross-over, exploratory clinical study. Twenty subjects with knee osteo...

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• Biomarker Insights
• Osteoarthritis
• Biomarkers

To investigate the association between markers of synovial inflammation and matrix turnover (MRI-based and serum biomarkers) and knee symptoms in established knee osteoarthritis (KOA). This cross-sectional study utilised data from a randomised, multicentre placebo-controlled trial (UK-VIDEO) of vita...

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• Biomarkers
• Osteoarthritis

Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by involvement of skin, axial and peripheral skeleton. An altered balance between extracellular matrix (ECM) formation and breakdown is a key event in PsA, and changes in ECM protein metabolites may provide insight to tissue c...

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• Biomarkers
• Psoriatic arthritis

The heterogeneous nature of osteoarthritis (OA) and the need to subtype patients is widely accepted in the field. The biomarker CRPM, a metabolite of C-reactive protein (CRP), is released to the circulation during inflammation. Blood CRPM levels have shown to be associated with disease activity and ...

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• Osteoarthritis
• Biomarker Insights

  Spondyloarthritis (SpA) is an umbrella term describing a family of chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases. These diseases are characterised by inflammation of the axial skeleton, peripheral joints, and entheseal insertion sites throughout the body which can lead to structural joint damage includ...

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• Spondyloarthopathies
• Cartilage

Objective: Associations between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and effect of treatment at the tissue levels are poorly understood. We investigated the scope of released extracellular matrix (ECM) metabolites as a consequence of tissue remodelling in patients treated with methotrexate (MTX) and tocilizuma...

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Osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis, all have one clear common denominator; an altered turnover of bone. However, this may be more complex than a simple change in bone matrix and mineral turnover. While these diseases share a common tissue axis, thei...

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• Ankylosing Spondylitis
• Osteoarthritis

Connective tissue (ConT) remodeling is an essential process in tissue regeneration, where a balanced replacement of old tissue by new tissue occurs. This balance is disturbed in chronic diseases, often autoimmune diseases, usually resulting in the buld up of fibrosis and a gradual loss of organ func...

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Different stimulants might induce different extracellular matrix profiles. It is essential to gain an understanding and quantification of these changes to allow for focused anti-fibrotic drug development. This study investigated the expression of extracellular matrix by dermal fibroblast mimicking f...

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Background: Tissue released blood-based biomarkers can provide insight into drug mode of action and response. To understand the changes in extracellular matrix turnover, we analyzed biomarkers associated with joint tissue turnover from a phase 3, randomized, placebo-controlled study of baricitinib i...

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• Rheumatoid arthritis

Osteoarthritis (OA) is associated with cartilage breakdown, brought about by ADAMTS-5 mediated aggrecan degradation followed by MMP-derived aggrecan and type II collagen degradation. We investigated a novel anti-ADAMTS-5 inhibiting Nanobody® (M6495) on cartilage turnover ex vivo. Bovine cartilage (B...

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Objective: Dysregulation of type I collagen metabolism has a great impact on human health. We have previously seen that matrix metalloproteinase-degraded type I collagen (C1M) is associated with early death and age-related pathologies. To dissect the biological impact of type I collagen dysregulatio...

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Introduction: Anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) therapy is effective in inducing remission in Crohn's disease in 60% of patients. No serological biomarkers are available, which can predict response to anti-TNF. We aimed to investigate serological markers of collagen turnover reflecting tissue inflamm...

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• Biomarkers

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease with fluctuating course of progression. Despite substantial improvement in treatments in recent years, treatment response is still not guaranteed. The aim of this study was to identify variation in Disease Activity Score 28 (DAS28) of RA pa...

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• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Rheumatology

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a progressive, chronic disease characterized by articular cartilage destruction. The pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-17 levels have been reported elevated in serum and synovial fluid of OA patients and correlated with increased cartilage defects and bone remodeling. T...

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• Osteoarthritis

Tissue turnover, especially in the skin, is altered in systemic sclerosis (SSc), leading to tissue accumulation. The objective was to examine type III, IV, and VI collagens turnovers in SSc and investigate longitudinal alterations in relation to modified Rodnan Skin Score (mRSS). We included patient...

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• Systemic Sclerosis

Objective: To determine the value of serological biomarkers of collagen degradation/turnover as serum markers of organ involvement in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). Methods: Serum samples were obtained from 79 SSc patients and 19 healthy control subjects. Types I to VI collagen turnover, e...

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• Systemic Sclerosis
• Multi organ diseases
• Fibrosis
• Respiratory diseases

Background: In Crohn's disease (CD), 10% to 40% of patients do not respond to anti-tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα) treatment. Currently, there are no biomarkers with adequate sensitivity to separate responders from nonresponders at an early stage. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigated wheth...

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• Gastrointestinal

Background: Fibrosis is a central histological feature of chronic liver diseases and is characterized by the accumulation and reorganization of the extracellular matrix. The gold standard for assessment of fibrosis is histological evaluation of a percutaneous liver biopsy. Albeit a considerable effo...

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• Liver Fibrosis
• Chronic Liver Disease

Sprifermin, recombinant human fibroblast growth factor 18 (rhFGF18), induces cartilage regeneration in knees of patients with osteoarthritis (OA). We hypothesized that a temporal multiphasic process of extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation and formation underlie this effect. We aimed to characteriz...

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• Osteoarthritis

Objectives: Clinical trials of new disease-modifying treatments for osteoarthritis should demonstrate a positive effect on a functional outcome or reduction in joint failure in order to be considered successful. Total joint replacement (TJR) surgery may be considered as joint failure, but great vari...

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• Osteoarthritis

Objective: Links between pain and joint degradation are poorly understood. We investigated the role of activation of Toll-like receptors (TLR) by cartilage metabolites in initiating and maintaining the inflammatory loop in OA causing joint destruction. Methods: Synovial membrane explants (SMEs) wer...

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• Osteoarthritis

Ex vivo culture systems cover a broad range of experiments dedicated to studying tissue and cellular function in a native setting. Cartilage is a unique tissue important for proper function of the synovial joint and is constituted by a dense extracellular matrix (ECM), rich in proteoglycan and type ...

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• Cartilage
• Osteoarthritis

Introduction: Extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling of the intestinal tissue is important in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) due to the extensive mucosal remodeling. There are still gaps in our knowledge as to how ECM remodeling is related to intestinal epithelium homeostasis and healing of the int...

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• Gastrointestinal
• Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a disease of the whole joint, including synovium, bone and cartilage. OA is a slow degenerative and very heterogeneous disease, with both varying levels of disease activity and progression. Biomarkers are urgently needed to assist drug developers in selecting and developing th...

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• Bone
• Osteoporosis
• Osteoarthritis