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DNA Methylation in PMR
Sponsor: Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
Summary
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) is treated with corticosteroids; however, long-term treatment is not feasible due to side effects. Withdrawal of corticosteroids causes a subset of patients to relapse, and there is no current way to understand what underlies this. Our research team has preliminary data from a small clinical study that indicates that different immune effector dynamics during the tapering of steroids correlate with relapse. This was achieved using the DNA methylation-specific immune cell profiling methods that Dr. Christensen has pioneered. What is proposed is a larger prospective study of 50 PMR patients to validate differences in CD4 and CD8 memory cells as a predictor of relapse. Finally, we also focus on the Glucocorticoid Methylation Index (GCMI), which is a collection of 28 CpG islands that are methylated in response to corticosteroids. This will allow our team to determine the predictive power of the GCMI for PMR.
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
50 Years - 89 Years
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
50
Start Date
2026-07-20
Completion Date
2027-04-01
Last Updated
2026-08-05
Healthy Volunteers
Yes