DNA Methylation in PMR
Starting soon
Conditions studied: Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR)
In brief
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 facts
- Study ID
- NCT07748195
- Run by
- Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
- People needed
- 50
- Starts
- 2026-07-20
- Expected to finish
- 2027-04-01
- Last updated by the study team
- 2026-08-05
Who can join
Age: 50 and older, up to 89. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.
You may qualify if…
- Anyone ≥50-89 years old Taking ≥10mg of prednisone or prednisone equivalent at time of enrollment with a stable disease normal ESR and CRP (inflammation markers) which would indicate presence of inflammation or not
- CRP: <1.0 mg/dL (some labs report in mg/L → normal is usually <3 mg/L)
- ESR:
- Men ≥50 years: 0-20 mm/hr
- Women ≥50 years: 0-30 mm/hr Have a PMR diagnosis Able to provide written consent
You may not qualify if…
- History of concomitant Giant cell arteritis (GCA) any other rheumatological disorders like lupus, arthritis (psoriatic, osteo), scleroderma, sjogrens Active malignancy- presence of tumor by imaging or labs Infection- infection can cause increased levels of innate immune cells making it difficult to differentiate between disease and infection recent surgery- within the past 6 months
Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov
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