Research Group Rucsandra Dobrota
Systemic rheumatic diseases can affect multiple organs, with lung involvement – such as interstitial lung disease (ILD) and pulmonary hypertension (PH) – being common and serious. Gastrointestinal tract (GIT) involvement, such as dysmotility, esophageal dysfunction, and lower GIT involvement, is also frequently seen. Additionally, other organs like the kidneys, heart, nervous system, blood vessels and skin can be affected, highlighting the complex, multi-organ impact of these diseases and the need for comprehensive, multidisciplinary management.
Our Projects
In this project, we perform a first, comprehensive clinical, functional and radiological characterization of interstitial lung disease in very early systemic sclerosis.
Pdevelopment of a translational risk assessment framework
In this multi-centric, translational study, we aim to identify early clinical and biological predictors of meaningful organ involvement in very early and early systemic sclerosis
This project aims to identify serum protein biomarkers associated with arthritis in very early systemic sclerosis.
In this project, we use ScleroID to identify important features influencing the patient-reported disease burden. ScleroID is a specific PRO for systemic sclerosis, which we previously developed and validated as part of an international collaboration (Becker M., Dobrota R, et al. Ann Rheum Dis 2022 Apr;81(4):507-515).
In this analysis, we perform an in depth analysis of the longitudinal performance of ScleroID in relation to measures of disease activity and severity, key information needed to further develop its future use in clinical research.
Selected Publications
- Muraru S, Mihai C, Elhai M, Becker M, Jordan S, Garaiman A, Bruni C, Petelytska L, Hoffmann-Vold AM, Distler O, Dobrota R. Arthritis in patients with very early systemic sclerosis: a comprehensive clinical and prognostic analysis. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2024 May 9:keae247. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keae247. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38724227.
- Rafael Muff, Doktorand MeF
- Madeleine Venables, PhD student