She joined the CTM training program two years ago as Laura Bokor’s supervisor, and they began researching how cutaneous lupus erythematosus can be treated most effectively and safely. They have published their research in the D1 journal Autoimmunity Reviews, and their results are already being used in clinical practice. Bernadett Hidvégi was honored with the Excellent Supervisor Award by the Centre for Translational Medicine.
Bernadett Hidvégi is the deputy head of department at the Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Dermatooncology, Semmelweis University. As a dermatologist and immunologist, she is a highly respected expert on autoimmune skin diseases. She heads the autoimmune skin disease specialist clinic at Semmelweis University and she is also involved in the work of the Psoriasis Center. “I joined the CTM program as a co-supervisor at the invitation of András Bánvölgyi, and Laura Bokor is our joint Ph.D. student. Laura had been my research student for a long time, doing clinical work and also getting involved in research related to cutaneous lupus erythematosus. As she was interested in academic work, she was open to get involved in CTM’s Ph.D. program. The idea for our research topic came from the fact that it was known that many patients are resistant to cutaneous lupus therapies. For this reason, we wanted to clarify in our meta-analysis which of the novel therapies are the most effective and safest in such cases,” she says.
Dr. Bokor’s meta-analysis revealed that anifrolumab and litifilimab are effective and safe treatment options for cutaneous lupus. However, deucravacitinib demonstrated superior efficacy and safety with fewer adverse events compared to various biologics and small molecules. Therefore, patients who have shown an inadequate response to first- and second-line treatments may benefit from the incorporation of deucravacitinib into their treatment regimens. The research on this was published in February this year in the D1 journal Autoimmunity Reviews, and its results are already being applied in clinical practice. “It is important to know that some of the novel therapies are not yet registered for cutaneous lupus, only for systemic lupus erythematosus. However, since we know from our meta-analysis that they can be effective in cutaneous lupus, we can already use anifrolumab for this condition with a special permission, and plan to use the others. Clinical trials are already underway that will allow the novel therapies to be used generally for cutaneous lupus,” she explains.
In addition to supervising Dr. Bokor’s research work, Dr. Hidvégi supports several other students in the Dermatology Group. She is primarily involved in the research of chronic spontaneous urticaria and prurigo nodularis. In such cases, she is keen to assist these students alongside their supervisors.
(Emese Szabó)