Ioannis Parodis Team

We perform clinical and translational research within the field of inflammation and autoimmunity, with a focus on systemic lupus erythematosus. Our research includes biomarker exploration, as well as investigation and prediction of effects of biological and non-biological immunomodulatory therapies on clinical, molecular, and patient-reported outcomes.

A separate research trajectory comprises projects within medical pedagogy.

Main focus: Precision medicine in autoimmune disease, with a particular focus on systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and its clinical manifestations.

 

Our goals: The overall goal of our research is to contribute to personalised management of people living with autoimmune disease, particularly SLE. Driven by the hypothesis that molecular patterns better inform treatment selection, we develop prediction models of treatment response and prognosis based on molecular patterns rather than clinical phenotypes.

 

Our research in brief: We study molecular phenotypes based on gene expression and protein levels in blood, urine, and tissues. We determine drug repurposing potentiality using systems biology and propose markers of disease activity, response to therapies, and prognosis, that are amenable to use in routine clinical practice. One of our objectives focuses on identification of peripheral markers in blood and urine that best mirror cellular and molecular profiling of kidney tissue from patients with lupus nephritis (LN).

 

Lupus in brief: SLE is a chronic, inflammatory, autoimmune disease that predominantly affects women of childbearing age. LN constitutes a severe, potentially life-threatening disease manifestation with still ill-defined pathogenesis, which affects 35–60% of patients with SLE.

 

Societal benefit: Our research is driven by simple but important aims. Findings from our projects are anticipated to have an unprecedented impact on the clinical care of patients with SLE and autoimmune diseases, contributing to improved quality of life and lower healthcare demand, including lower frequencies of hospitalisation. This in turn contributes to reduced healthcare costs, deceleration of organ damage accrual, and an overall decreased morbidity and mortality for patients with SLE.

Medical pedagogy: In a distinct research avenue, we examine the potential of virtual patients to enhance clinical reasoning skills within the realm of medical education using an innovative AI-embedded social robotic platform.

More about our research: https://parodislab.com; https://rebiolup.com

Ioannis Parodis, Associate professor, ioannis.parodis@ki.se

Ioannis Parodis studied medicine at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, and graduated in 2006. In February 2017, Ioannis Parodis defended his doctoral thesis entitled “Systemic lupus erythematosus: biomarkers and biologics”, which he carried out at the Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine Solna, Karolinska Institutet, and in December 2021 he acquired the title of Associate Professor of Rheumatology. His research has focused on clinical and translational approached for the identification of biomarkers and calibration of predictive models for diagnostics, clinical and immune responses to therapies, and long-term prognosis in systemic lupus erythematosus and lupus nephritis.

Currently, Ioannis Parodis holds a permanent position as a senior consultant rheumatologist at the Karolinska University Hospital, and educational leadership positions at the medical program of Karolinska Institutet.

Dionysis Nikolopoulos, MD, PhD, Postdoc, dionysis.nikolopoulos@ki.se

Korosh Hekmat, MD, PhD, Postdoc, korosh.hekmat@ki.se

Alvaro Gómez Gonzalez, MD, PhD student, alvaro.gomez.gonzalez@ki.se

Julius Lindblom, MD, PhD student, julius.lindblom@ki.se

Alexander Borg, MD, PhD student, alexander.borg@ki.se

Sandra Jägerback, MD, PhD student, sandra.jagerback@ki.se

Nursen Cetrez, MD, Research assistant, nursen.cetrez@ki.se

Denis Lagutkin, MSc, Research assistant, denis.lagutkin@ki.se

Alexander Tsoi, Resarch assistant, alexander.tsoi@ki.se

Joao Botto, MD, affiliated to research, joao.botto@ki.se

Yvonne Enman, honorary doctor, affiliated to research, yvonne.enman@ki.se

Adrian Levitsy, PhD, affiliated to research, adrian.levitsky@ki.se

Linnea Näsman, MD, affiliated to research, linnea.nasman@ki.se

Leonardo Palazzo,, MD, affiliated to research, leonardo.palazzo@ki.se

Ana Rita, Pinheiro Torres Silva, MD, affiliated to research, ana.rita.pinheiro.torres.silva@ki.se

Yuliia Seheda, MD, PhD, affiliated to research, yuliia.seheda@ki.se

Shahrzad Kia Komujuni, PhD student (defended in December 2022), MSc PhD, shahrzad.kia.komujuni@gmail.com

Lupus Nephritis Trials Network | https://lupusnephritis.org

Ioannis Parodis is the lead for the Working Group “Rebiopsy, Biomarkers and Pathology”

 

ReBioLup consortium | http://rebiolup.com

Ioannis Parodis is the main PI/lead of the consortium

Taxonomy, Treatment, Targets and Remission | https://3tr-imi.eu

Ioannis Parodis is a co-lead for the Work Package “Cross-disease activities” and the “SLE Working Group”

Inflammation Research Milieu X-HiDE | https://www.oru.se/x-hide/

Ioannis Parodis is the co-lead of the Theme “Low-grade inflammation” and Coordinator of the Work Package “Clinical implication”.

Our work is supported by grants from EU – Innovative Health Initiative (IHI)/European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), Swedish Rheumatism Association, King Gustaf V’s 80-year Foundation, Swedish Society of Medicine, Nyckelfonden, Professor Nanna Svartz Foundation, Ulla and Roland Gustafsson Foundation, Swedish Association for Medical Research (SSMF), Eva and Oscar Ahrén’s Foundation, Foundation in memory of Nanna and Albert Skantze, Erik and Edith Fernström’s Foundation for Medical Research, Region Stockholm, and Karolinska Institutet.

We have also received support or funding from the following pharmaceutical companies: Amgen, AstraZeneca, Aurinia, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Elli Lilly, Gilead, GlaxoSmithKline, Otsuka, and Roche.

Prizes and awards to Ioannis Parodis

2023 LUPUS and Korean College of Rheumatology 2023 travel grant award recipient

2020 Amgen and Swedish Society for Rheumatology award recipient

2019 Pedagogy award; best supervisor of medical students, internal medicine, MedS, KI

2019 Elli Lilly and Swedish Society for Rheumatology award recipient

2019 SLEuro training bursary recipient

2018 ACR/EULAR Exchange programme award recipient

2014 Pedagogy award; best supervisor of medical students, internal medicine, MedS, KI

2007 Best poster, 13^th scientific meeting for medical students and young physicians, Greece

Prizes and awards to Alvaro Gomez

2023 LUPUS and Korean College of Rheumatology 2023 travel grant award recipient

2023 Best abstract presentation, CORA 2023, Turin, Italy

2021 SLEuro training bursary recipient

Prizes and awards to Julius Lindblom

2023 LUPUS and Korean College of Rheumatology 2023 travel grant award recipient

2022 Lupus Academy best abstract award

2022 EMEUNET top 10 EULAR abstract award

2022 EMEUNET top 10 ACR abstract award

2021 SLEuro training bursary recipient

 

Prizes and awards to Nursen Cetrez

2023 SLEuro training bursary recipient

2023 Best poster, 2023 Rheuma Retreat, MedS, KI

PhD student: Shahrzad Kia Komujuni

Date: 2022-12-02

Title: Optimising treatment outcomes in people living with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Link to news from the lab: https://parodislab.com/latest-news/

E-mail: parodislab@info.com or ioannis.parodis@ki.se

Selected papers reporting original research

Lindblom J, Toro-Domínguez D, Carnero-Montoro E, Beretta L, Borghi MO, Castillo J, Enman Y; PRECISESADS Clinical Consortium; Mohan C, Alarcón-Riquelme ME, Barturen G, Parodis I. Distinct gene dysregulation patterns herald precision medicine potentiality in systemic lupus erythematosus. J Autoimmun. 2023 Apr;136:103025. doi: 10.1016/j.jaut.2023.103025. Epub 2023 Mar 28. Erratum in: J Autoimmun. 2023 May 2;:103052. PMID: 36996699.

Gomez A, Jägerback S, Sjöwall C, Parodis I. Belimumab and antimalarials combined against renal flares in patients treated for extra-renal systemic lupus erythematosus: results from 4 phase III clinical trials. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2023 May 25:kead253. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/kead253. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37228028.

Louis Sam Titus ASC, Tan Y, Tran P, Lindblom J, Ivbievbiokun M, Xu Y, Zheng J, Parodis I, Cai Q, Chang A, Chen SH, Zhao M, Mohan C. Molecular architecture of proliferative lupus nephritis as elucidated using 50-plex imaging mass cytometry proteomics. Clin Immunol. 2023 Sep;254:109713. doi: 10.1016/j.clim.2023.109713. Epub 2023 Jul 27. PMID: 37516396.

Palazzo L, Lindblom J, Çetrez N, Ala H, Parodis I. Determinants of neuropsychiatric flares in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: results from five phase III trials of belimumab. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2023 May 25:kead249. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/kead249. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37228034.

Parodis I, Gomez A, Lindblom J, Chow JW, Sjöwall C, Sciascia S, Gatto M. B Cell Kinetics upon Therapy Commencement for Active Extrarenal Systemic Lupus Erythematosus in Relation to Development of Renal Flares: Results from Three Phase III Clinical Trials of Belimumab. Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Nov 11;23(22):13941. doi: 10.3390/ijms232213941. PMID: 36430417; PMCID: PMC9698874.

Parodis I, Gomez A, Chow JW, Borg A, Lindblom J, Gatto M. Early B Cell and Plasma Cell Kinetics Upon Treatment Initiation Portend Flares in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Post-Hoc Analysis of Three Phase III Clinical Trials of Belimumab. Front Immunol. 2022 Apr 4;13:796508. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.796508. PMID: 35444642; PMCID: PMC9015703.

Chalmers SA, Ayilam Ramachandran R, Garcia SJ, Der E, Herlitz L, Ampudia J, Chu D, Jordan N, Zhang T, Parodis I, Gunnarsson I, Ding H, Shen N, Petri M, Mok CC, Saxena R, Polu KR, Connelly S, Ng CT, Mohan C, Putterman C. The CD6/ALCAM pathway promotes lupus nephritis via T cell-mediated responses. J Clin Invest. 2022 Jan 4;132(1):e147334. doi: 10.1172/JCI147334. PMID: 34981775; PMCID: PMC8718154.

Parodis I, Vital EM, Hassan SU, Jönsen A, Bengtsson AA, Eriksson P, Leonard D, Gunnarsson I, Rönnblom L, Sjöwall C. De novo lupus nephritis during treatment with belimumab. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2021 Sep 1;60(9):4348-4354. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keaa796. PMID: 33341888; PMCID: PMC8409994.

Gomez A, Hani Butrus F, Johansson P, Åkerström E, Soukka S, Emamikia S, Enman Y, Pettersson S, Parodis I. Impact of overweight and obesity on patient-reported health-related quality of life in systemic lupus erythematosus. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2021 Mar 2;60(3):1260-1272. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keaa453. PMID: 32918459; PMCID: PMC7937019.

Parodis I, Adamichou C, Aydin S, Gomez A, Demoulin N, Weinmann-Menke J, Houssiau FA, Tamirou F. Per-protocol repeat kidney biopsy portends relapse and long-term outcome in incident cases of proliferative lupus nephritis. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2020 Nov 1;59(11):3424-3434. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keaa129. PMID: 32353879.

Parodis I, Åkerström E, Sjöwall C, Sohrabian A, Jönsen A, Gomez A, Frodlund M, Zickert A, Bengtsson AA, Rönnelid J, Gunnarsson I. Autoantibody and Cytokine Profiles during Treatment with Belimumab in Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. Int J Mol Sci. 2020 May 14;21(10):3463. doi: 10.3390/ijms21103463. PMID: 32422945; PMCID: PMC7278961.

Parodis I, Gomez A, Emamikia S, Chatzidionysiou K. Established organ damage reduces belimumab efficacy in systemic lupus erythematosus. Ann Rheum Dis. 2019 Jul;78(7):1006-1007. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2018-214880. Epub 2019 Jan 4. PMID: 30610063.

Medical pedagogy

Parodis I, Andersson L, Durning SJ, Hege I, Knez J, Kononowicz AA, Lidskog M, Petreski T, Szopa M, Edelbring S. Clinical Reasoning Needs to Be Explicitly Addressed in Health Professions Curricula: Recommendations from a European Consortium. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Oct 25;18(21):11202. doi: 10.3390/ijerph182111202. PMID: 34769721; PMCID: PMC8583438.

Hege I, Adler M, Donath D, Durning SJ, Edelbring S, Elvén M, Bogusz A, Georg C, Huwendiek S, Körner M, Kononowicz AA, Parodis I, Södergren U, Wagner FL, Wiegleb Edström D. Developing a European longitudinal and interprofessional curriculum for clinical reasoning. Diagnosis (Berl). 2023 Feb 20;10(3):218-224. doi: 10.1515/dx-2022-0103. PMID: 36800998.

Edelbring S, Parodis I, Lundberg IE. Increasing Reasoning Awareness: Video Analysis of Students’ Two-Party Virtual Patient Interactions. JMIR Med Educ. 2018 Feb 27;4(1):e4. doi: 10.2196/mededu.9137. PMID: 29487043; PMCID: PMC5849799.

Selected reviews

Anders HJ, Saxena R, Zhao MH, Parodis I, Salmon JE, Mohan C. Lupus nephritis. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2020 Jan 23;6(1):7. doi: 10.1038/s41572-019-0141-9. PMID: 31974366.

Parodis I, Gomez A, Tsoi A, Chow JW, Pezzella D, Girard C, Stamm TA, Boström C. Systematic literature review informing the EULAR recommendations for the non-pharmacological management of systemic lupus erythematosus and systemic sclerosis. RMD Open. 2023 Aug;9(3):e003297. doi: 10.1136/rmdopen-2023-003297. PMID: 37532469; PMCID: PMC10401222.

Sciascia S, Roccatello D, Radin M, Parodis I, Yazdany J, Pons-Estel G, Mosca M. Differentiating between UCTD and early-stage SLE: from definitions to clinical approach. Nat Rev Rheumatol. 2022 Jan;18(1):9-21. doi: 10.1038/s41584-021-00710-2. Epub 2021 Nov 11. PMID: 34764455.

Gomez A, Parodis I. Do biological agents improve health-related quality of life in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus? Results from a systematic search of the literature. Autoimmun Rev. 2022 Nov;21(11):103188. doi: 10.1016/j.autrev.2022.103188. Epub 2022 Sep 9. PMID: 36089249.

Gomez A, Enman Y, Parodis I. Impact of Belimumab on Patient-Reported Outcomes in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Insights from Clinical Trials and Real-World Evidence. Patient Relat Outcome Meas. 2023 Jan 19;14:1-13. doi: 10.2147/PROM.S369584. PMID: 36699199; PMCID: PMC9869695.

Palazzo L, Lindblom J, Mohan C, Parodis I. Current Insights on Biomarkers in Lupus Nephritis: A Systematic Review of the Literature. J Clin Med. 2022 Sep 28;11(19):5759. doi: 10.3390/jcm11195759. PMID: 36233628; PMCID: PMC9570701.

Lindblom J, Mohan C, Parodis I. Biomarkers in Neuropsychiatric Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Systematic Literature Review of the Last Decade. Brain Sci. 2022 Jan 30;12(2):192. doi: 10.3390/brainsci12020192. PMID: 35203955; PMCID: PMC8869794.

Lindblom J, Mohan C, Parodis I. Diagnostic, predictive and prognostic biomarkers in systemic lupus erythematosus: current insights. Curr Opin Rheumatol. 2022 Mar 1;34(2):139-149. doi: 10.1097/BOR.0000000000000862. PMID: 35013077.

Parodis I, Stockfelt M, Sjöwall C. B Cell Therapy in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: From Rationale to Clinical Practice. Front Med (Lausanne). 2020 Jul 9;7:316. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2020.00316. PMID: 32754605; PMCID: PMC7381321.

Selected viewpoints

Parodis I, Houssiau FA. From sequential to combination and personalised therapy in lupus nephritis: moving towards a paradigm shift? Ann Rheum Dis. 2022 Jan;81(1):15-19. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2021-221270. Epub 2021 Sep 14. PMID: 34521616.

Parodis I, Tamirou F, Houssiau FA. Treat-to-Target in Lupus Nephritis. What is the Role of the Repeat Kidney Biopsy? Arch Immunol Ther Exp (Warsz). 2022 Feb 11;70(1):8. doi: 10.1007/s00005-022-00646-9. PMID: 35147824; PMCID: PMC8837511.