NL
DE
The world of treating the chronic, inflammatory skin disease psoriasis has seen major progress in the last twenty years, particularly with the development of highly effective biologic therapies. Lately, there has been an increase in studies about patients who respond exceptionally well to these biologics, often called 'super-responders.' However, so far, there's no consensus on what exactly makes someone a super-responder. Agreement on how to classify super-responders could be a big help in finding specific markers or predictors for this super-effective response and could eventually help in selecting the most appropriate therapy for individuals.
Researcher Sarah Thomas, together with lead investigators Elke de Jong and Juul van den Reek aimed to contribute to this growing area of research by (I) synthesizing the different definitions of super-responders currently used in psoriasis literature; and (II) evaluating the impact of these different definitions on the composition of the super-responder group. The research group from the Dermatology department used data of the BioCAPTURE network and published the results in the British Journal of Dermatology in August 2023.
The study reveals the use of eight different definitions of super-response to treatment. The primary aspect that all studies had in common was the use of a tool that measures the severity and extent of psoriasis, the PASI-score. However, there were considerable differences in how the PASI-score was applied, using different cut-off values, time points, and duration of maintenance.
The researchers applied three different definitions of super-response to a large daily practice psoriasis cohort (BioCAPTURE) and demonstrated that the chosen definition of a super-responder greatly influences results, as the proportion of super-responders significantly differed among the used definitions. With the growing availability of more potent treatments, the researchers believe that the number of super-responders is likely to rise in the coming years. Consequently, they emphasize the importance of raising awareness and ultimately reaching an international consensus on how to define super-responders. This will allow a more effective comparison of super-responder studies in the future.
Read the publication here:
Thomas SE, van den Reek JMPA, Seyger MMB, de Jong EMGJ. How to define a 'super-responder' to biologics in psoriasis studies. Br J Dermatol. 2023 Oct 25;189(5):621-622. doi: 10.1093/bjd/ljad280. PMID: 37595133.
