SJD Barcelona Children's Hospital contributes to European research on systemic autoinflammatory diseases

Systemic autoinflammatory diseases (SAIDs) are a set of little-known rare diseases that involve a loss of innate immune system regulation. Their main characteristic is severe inflammation. 

They are not easy to diagnose, since their symptoms, such as fever, are also seen in many other types of disease, including infections, and patients may make many visits and receive multiple ineffective treatments before being correctly diagnosed.

With a view to identifying new tools to improve the diagnosis and management of SAIDs, the European ImmunAID project was initiated. A total of 37 centres in 11 European countries are contributing to the project. Among them is SJD Barcelona Children's Hospital, with the Adaptive Response, Metabolism and Immunobiology research programme of the SJD Research Institute (IRSJD). 

Jordi Anton, Head of the hospital's Rheumatology Unit, leads a team participating in this project, which has entered its clinical phase. 

"We hope to enrol at least 52 patients with different diseases in the clinical phase", says Anton. "The parents of 32 patients with autoinflammatory conditions of unknown origin will also be enrolled." There is also the possibility of adding more patients who wish to participate.

More information on IRSJD