Versus Arthritis National Experimental Arthritis Treatment Centre for Children

The Experimental Arthritis Treatment Centre for Children (EATC4Children) is the UK’s first and only EATC4Children.

It represents a unique consortium that was created in 2014 through the support of and partnership with Versus Arthritis (grant ref 20621), to deliver translational biomedical research (bench-to-bedside and back again), from early lab-based studies to clinical trials for children and young people with autoimmune/inflammatory disorders.

It grew significantly over its first funding phase from four nascent work streams to five mature, dedicated programmes.

These programmes comprise: i) juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), ii) JIA-associated uveitis, iii) juvenile-onset systemic lupus erythematosus, iv) paediatric bone health (including specific sub-themes of metabolic, inflammatory, and orthopaedic bone conditions), and v) juvenile scleroderma. Each of these now have extensive portfolios of experimental medicine studies and/or early phase clinical trials.

There are also emerging workstreams which include: juvenile dermatomyositis, Behcet’s syndrome, and renal inflammatory conditions (e.g. childhood immunoglobulin A vasculitis). To date, the crucial funding provided by Versus Arthritis contributes towards core resources of the EATC4Children.

All specific research projects, clinical studies and clinical trials require applications for, and leveraging of, external funding, that are enabled by this core resource.

With significant, additional funding from Versus Arthritis to support the EATC4Children’s experimental medicine programme, we will undertake a number of strategically prioritised proof of concept, pump priming and preliminary data acquisition studies, and where funding permits, pilot clinical studies.

Over the next 3-years, the EATC4Children will: Ensure all activities are inspired by, and involve, patients with juvenile-onset autoimmune/inflammatory disease and their families, e.g. planning studies and international conferences and symposiums with patient and family involvement.

Continue to grow as an inclusive and collaborative national centre for experimental and early phase translational medicine in Paediatric Rheumatology that is child and young person centred, with strong international collaborations, (e.g. collaborative translational research and the development of early phase national and international clinical trials; ACR/EULAR classification criteria initiatives; OMERACT exercises for outcome assessment).

Develop tools to stratify patients by using clinical and molecular phenotypes associated with disease presentation, stage, outcomes or treatment responses, e.g. from our expertise arising from the SYCAMORE and APTITUDE trials, to develop and improve individualised care (stratified medicine).

Take forward our discoveries from the laboratory and apply knowledge gained into clinical settings, e.g. biomarker and/or genetic signatures for response/outcome prediction in clinical trials); engagement with our industry partners to trial and/or repurpose medications in childhood inflammatory disease.

Build on our longstanding and strong partnerships within the UK paediatric (e.g. Versus Arthritis / NIHR: Children Clinical Studies Group; MRC CLUSTER Consortium) and adult rheumatology (e.g.

MRC MASTERPLANS Consortium) communities, to deliver priority studies for children and young people in experimental medicine and understand “lifetime impact” of autoimmune/inflammatory disease.