Interview with WP5 leader: Arthur Pratt

“SPIDeRR offers valuable insights into leveraging vast datasets for improved healthcare”

During the SPIDeRR conference held on April 17 and 18 this year in Budapest, we conducted an interview with clinical rheumatologist Dr. Arthur Pratt, the leader of work package 5. He was involved in setting up the early arthritis clinic in Newcastle some years ago. 

“My ongoing interest is in leveraging insights into the causes and mechanisms of rheumatoid arthritis to improve patient care through faster and more accurate diagnoses and early treatment interventions.” 

Dr. Pratt became involved in the SPIDeRR project after being approached by Prof. Rachel Knevel, primarily due to their shared interest in personalizing referral pathways for individuals with musculoskeletal complaints, which aligns with Pratt’s interest in the early arthritis space.

Milestones and opportunities
The main goal of work package 5 is to personalize referral pathways for individuals with musculoskeletal complaints. This involves directing them to the appropriate healthcare professional promptly to initiate the most suitable treatment plan. Dr. Pratt commented: “Our goal is to explore whether genetic information can enhance diagnostic accuracy and clinical decision-making for conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, and psoriatic arthritis. While genetics has provided valuable insights into disease mechanisms, its potential as a diagnostic tool has yet to be fully realized”. By integrating genetic data with advancements in data science and analysis of electronic health records, Dr. Pratt and his colleagues seek to determine if considering a person's genetic makeup alongside their symptoms can optimize patient care decisions.
Dr. Pratt outlines two primary milestones for achieving the objectives of the work package. The initial milestone involves gathering and consolidating genetic data from consenting individuals with musculoskeletal issues across various centres. This will kickstart the evaluation of genetic tools as potential diagnostic or outcome predictors on a large scale. “Our aim is to achieve this goal within the next six to nine months. Once we compile all the data and make it accessible for analysis by our expert data scientists, numerous opportunities will emerge for exploring various research questions.” Work package 5 primarily aims to assess the practical added value of genetic data in enhancing patient pathways — a crucial inquiry. However, the scope extends further. One of the long-term objectives is to integrate genetic information with other abundant data sources available on SPIDeRR volunteers, which will enable the team to delve deeper into understanding the underlying causes of rheumatoid arthritis using statistical techniques. Dr. Pratt states: “We seldom had the chance to examine all these data collectively before. With the statistical and analytical expertise within SPIDeRR, we have new avenues to explore how genetics may influence different disease pathways, leading to the symptoms and challenges faced by individuals with musculoskeletal issues”.

Major challenges
The main challenge of work package 5 involves extracting and integrating data from diverse systems and centres while maintaining participant privacy and enabling effective data analysis. Dr. Pratt acknowledges the logistical complexity of balancing these aspects but expresses confidence in overcoming them. He anticipates that once these challenges are addressed, the collaboration's diverse expertise, particularly from talented young scientists, will lead to unexpected discoveries. “Collaboration across institutions and experts in data handling amplifies our strength, promising exciting advancements in science and, most importantly, benefits for individuals with musculoskeletal complaints”, he indicates.

Interdisciplinary collaboration
Work package 5 collaborates with several other work packages in the SPIDeRR project, and its work has implications across multiple work packages. “We closely interact with work package 2 (‘Data integration, harmonisation and management’) to identify genetic data owners and access electronic health records. Additionally, we collaborate closely with colleagues in work package 4 (‘Digital Twin’), who are developing digital tools for clinical use. “Our colleagues in that work package would need to have access to the findings that we have, and they might add value to some of those digital tools.”

Data-driven innovations
In the upcoming year, Pratt indicates that the work package's priority is to consolidate the combined dataset supporting SPIDeRR's outcomes. Subsequent years will focus on developing digital tools for clinical use to aid doctors in making informed decisions. “While these tools may not offer definitive diagnoses, they could provide probabilities to guide patient care more efficiently. This would mark a significant achievement, laying the groundwork for future clinical trials to validate their effectiveness. SPIDeRR is an ambitious project that, beyond specific outcomes, offers valuable insights into leveraging vast datasets for improved healthcare. Learning from its challenges and bottlenecks will inform future projects, contributing to the ongoing evolution of healthcare technologies.”