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JPM
Special Issues
Challenges and Opportunities in Personalized Management of Rheumatic Diseases
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Challenges and Opportunities in Personalized Management of Rheumatic Diseases

A Special Issue of Journal of Personalized Medicine (ISSN 2075-4426) belonging to the section "Personalized Therapy in Clinical Medicine".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 October 2026 | Viewed by 1143

Editor

Dr. Gilda Sandri

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Rheumatology Unit, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy
Interests: clinical rheumatology; rheumatic diseases; autoimmunity; inflammatory diseases; chronic inflammation; rheumatoid arthritis; systemic lupus erythematosus; inflammation; musculoskeletal imaging; musculoskeletal disorders

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Rheumatic diseases are a group of conditions that primarily affect joints, muscles, bones, and organs. Examples include rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, osteoarthritis, gout, and scleroderma. Its clinical course varies widely between individuals, with some experiencing mild symptoms and others facing rapid joint damage or extra-articular complications. This heterogeneity makes standardized treatment approaches insufficient for many patients. This shift has encouraged the development of targeted therapies and more nuanced assessment tools tailored to its diverse manifestations.

This Special Issue aims to address the critical need for individualized care in rheumatic diseases by exploring how clinical, biological, and patient data can guide optimal treatment selection, timing, and monitoring.

We invite original research, systematic reviews, and perspective articles on topics such as biomarker validation, phenotype-endotype correlations, comparative effectiveness of biologics in specific subgroups, implementation of treat-to-target strategies, and approaches that incorporate patient preferences into therapeutic planning.

Dr. Gilda Sandri
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Personalized Medicine is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • rheumatic diseases
  • autoimmunity
  • osteoarthritis
  • psoriatic arthritis
  • personalized therapy
  • immune endotypes
  • machine learning
  • musculoskeletal ultrasound
  • patient preferences
  • treatment response biomarkers

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

11 pages, 523 KB  
Article
Temporal Clinical Ultrasound Asynchrony in Psoriatic Arthritis Enthesitis: Implications for Personalized Monitoring
by Nicolò Girolimetto, Francesco Caso, Marianna Oliva, Alessandra Rai, Giorgia Citriniti, Filippo Crescentini, Luca Magnani, Olga Addimanda, Giulia Galletto, Maria Grazia Orlando, Pierluigi Macchioni, Carlo Salvarani, Francesco Ursini and Niccolò Possemato
J. Pers. Med. 2026, 16(5), 262; https://doi.org/10.3390/jpm16050262 - 13 May 2026
Viewed by 787
Abstract
Background: In psoriatic arthritis (PsA), clinical tenderness and ultrasound (US) capture distinct yet related aspects of entheseal disease activity. However, their longitudinal relationship after initiation of biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs), and the clinical significance of early discordance during follow-up remain unclear. [...] Read more.
Background: In psoriatic arthritis (PsA), clinical tenderness and ultrasound (US) capture distinct yet related aspects of entheseal disease activity. However, their longitudinal relationship after initiation of biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs), and the clinical significance of early discordance during follow-up remain unclear. Methods: In this retrospective observational cohort study based on routinely collected medical records, patients with CASPAR-defined PsA and clinically and ultrasonographically active enthesitis at baseline (Clin+/US+) who initiated bDMARD therapy underwent paired, same-day, blinded clinical and US assessments at approximately 6 and 12 months. Agreement between clinical and US findings was quantified using Cohen’s kappa. Discordant states (Clin−/US+ and Clin+/US−) were prespecified, and predictors of Clin−/US+ status at 6 months were analyzed using models that accounted for within-patient clustering. Results: Thirty-nine patients contributed 82 entheses and were treated with either tumour necrosis factor inhibitors (53.8%) or interleukin-17 inhibitors (46.2%). At 6 months, agreement between clinical and US assessments was fair (κ = 0.286; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.080 to 0.492), with 23.2% of entheses classified as Clin−/US+ and 52.4% as concordantly inactive. At 12 months, agreement improved to substantial-to-almost-perfect levels (κ = 0.779; 95% CI, 0.595 to 0.963), with only 1.2% of entheses remaining Clin−/US+ and 80.5% achieving concordant remission. NSAID exposure was the only significant predictor of Clin−/US+ status at 6 months in univariable analysis (odds ratio [OR], 3.82; 95% CI, 1.27 to 11.47; p = 0.017) and remained associated after multivariable adjustment (OR, 6.16; 95% CI, 1.14 to 33.2; p = 0.03). Conclusions: In PsA patients starting bDMARD therapy, clinical and US assessments of enthesitis showed partial discordance at 6 months, followed by greater convergence at 12 months. These findings suggest that clinical and imaging abnormalities may resolve asynchronously during follow-up and should therefore be interpreted in an integrated, time-aware manner. Residual US abnormalities in the setting of clinical improvement should be interpreted cautiously and within the broader clinical context. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Challenges and Opportunities in Personalized Management of Rheumatic Diseases)
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