The award is awarded for a scientific work of particularly high quality. Brun's research has already changed the treatment for patients with chronic inflammatory diseases in Norway. She is awarded the HM King's gold medal for her doctorate.
Brown has researched personal treatment. Can her research be the solution for patients who do not benefit as much from drugs as others?
Different effects of equal treatment
Over 50,000 Norwegians have a chronic inflammatory disease in the joints, intestines or skin. After modern treatment became available in the 1990s, people with chronic inflammatory diseases have had a much better life. They avoid the late effects of the diseases, such as broken joints or boweled intestines.
Today, two out of three can be treated almost completely healthy. Not everyone gets full help from the treatment. For some, the medicine stops working over time and the disease gets worse. For those who lose the effect of the medication, everyday life can be significantly affected.
- I have researched to find out what really happens when the treatment with such a widely used drug as Infliximab no longer works, says Marthe Kirkesæther Brun.
She researched the doctorate at the Remedy research center at Diakonhjemmet Hospital.
Brun's work gives the answer to why some patients do not have sufficient effect of biological treatment with infliximab - and what can be done about it.
The results have led to new treatment guidelines in Norway.
From research to improved treatment
- These antibodies are an important reason why patients do not get enough effect from treatment, Brun explains.
The research shows that the dosage of infliximab should be adapted to the individual patient. To adapt the dosage, drug levels and antibodies in the blood are measured regularly. This is called therapeutic drug monitoring. Such a way of following up patients has led to more people getting better and avoiding the disease from flaring up.
- Monitoring the drug level in patients to adjust dosage can therefore be useful in patients treated with infliximab. This is especially true of those who have risk factors for developing antibodies, says Brun.
Among the risk factors are high disease activity, smoking, rheumatoid arthritis and low pharmaceutical levels in the blood. Genetics also plays a role. Brun's work documented that the tissue type antigen HLA-DQ2 increases the risk of developing antibodies.
Gold medal for outstanding research contributions
The King's Gold Medal is awarded younger researchers for scientific work that is an effective contribution to the research literature. Rector at the University of Oslo, Svein Stølen, states:
– Congratulations so much to the eight very talented researchers! I am always just as proud and inspired every time the gold medals are awarded. The University of Oslo is the country's oldest and not least best - thanks in large part to the contributions of our outstanding, younger researchers.
The distribution takes place during the University's annual party in the Aula 2 September.
From doctorate to practice
The doctoral project included analyzes of 615 patients with inflammatory disease in the intestine, joints or skin. The study showed that some patients develop antibodies that prevent infliximab from working.
Marthe Kirkesæther Brun's doctoral work has been carried out at the Diakonhjemmet Hospital and the research center Remedy, in collaboration with Akershus University Hospital and Oslo University Hospital. She has been part of the national Nor-Drum project, funded by Health South-East and Klinborsk.
Brun is now back in specialization in rheumatology at Diakonhjemmet Hospital.
- I want to help patients get the best possible everyday life, and I enjoy clinical practice well, she says. Clinical research and clinical practice go hand in hand in Remedy and Diakonhjemmet Hospital, so I look forward to being able to continue research.
Links to Brun's scientific articles:
- Jama: Therapeutic Drug Monitoring vs Standard Therapy
- JOIM: RISK FACTORS FOR ANTI-DRUG ANTIBODIES
- JOIM: HLA-DQ2 and Immunogenicity
- The Lancet Rheumatology: Clinical Consequences of Infliximab Immunogenicity
Marthe Kirkesæther Brun is honored with the King's gold medal for groundbreaking research on personalized treatment. In the picture you see Marthe K. Brun, to the right of her main supervisor, Silje Watterdal Syversen.
