What You Need to Know

The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 2024 Annual Meeting is coming up in Washington, DC. From November 14 through November 19, this year’s gathering offers hundreds of sessions on basic, translational, and clinical science in rheumatology and nearly 400 oral abstracts highlighting novel research findings and recent clinical trial results. Medscape Medical News spoke with Rebecca L. Manno, MD, MHS, chair of the ACR Committee on Education, to discuss some of the highlights of this meeting.

2024 Changes

This year, the conference will not have live streaming, though ACR is aiming to have sessions available on demand within 48 hours after they end. The decision was based on declining live stream audiences while in-person attendance grew, “which demonstrated to us that learners want to engage with in-person content,” Manno said. She is the director of the Comprehensive Arthritis and Rheumatology Center of the Caribbean and faculty at the University of the Virgin Islands, both in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands.

“For the first time, the ACR will also deliver content in a variety of ways after the meeting concludes. This will include opportunities for learners to see the most popular content from ACR Convergence 2024 and engage with meeting presenters.”

More information on these post-meeting opportunities will be available soon, she said.

The program is also bringing back “ Meet the Professor” sessions, which offer participants the opportunity for small-group discussions with field experts on 18 featured topics, including reproductive health, rheumatoid arthritis–associated interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD), and lupus nephritis. These sessions are capped at 25 participants and require an additional fee from the annual conference registration fee.

“This setting fosters conversations and encourages networking and collaboration among participants and experts alike,” Manno said.

Networking opportunities also abound with the networking lounges, which have been “revamped to create more collaborative spaces,” she said. There will also be themed networking sessions, including “Meet the Editors,” where participants can discuss scientific publishing with editors from leading rheumatic disease journals.

Highlighted Sessions

Manno highlighted several clinical science sessions on topics ranging from lupus nephritis to the rheumatology workforce shortage.

The session “More Than Skin Deep,” moderated by Manno and Noelle A. Rolle, MBBS, of the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, Augusta, Georgia, will focus on recognizing rheumatic disease in skin of color and differentiating the skin manifestations of systemic sclerosis and its mimics. This year, there will be two great debates: One focused on whether to use biologics in the treatment of systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis with lung disease and the second on if mixed connective tissue disease should be considered a unique rheumatic disease.

Manno also highlighted sessions on the 2024 updated recommendations on the screening, treatment, and management of lupus nephritis; advances in screening and diagnosis of RA-ILD; and controversies in the treatment of anticitrullinated protein antibody–associated vasculitis.

The basic science program this year will involve sessions on the role of the microbiome in rheumatic disease and emerging knowledge on pain receptors.

“We have about two dozen basic science sessions planned on a broad range of topics reflecting new discoveries in multiple areas of rheumatology,” Anne Davidson, MBBS, professor of molecular medicine at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research and Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and chair of the Basic Science Team for the Annual Meeting Planning Committee, told ACR Convergence Today.

The Monday, November 18, afternoon session “BiKEs, TriKEs, and Exotic CARs: Riding Therapy Into the Next Generation of Treatment” will review the mechanism of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy and discuss novel CAR-like treatments that are being developed.

“This will show people what the future might look like in cellular therapy,” Davidson said. “This year, we’re delving deeper into new development in this area that is going to progress and become available for many of our rheumatic diseases.”

Other highlighted basic sessions include:

• Delivering the Goods at Nanoscale: Novel Biomaterials as Therapies for Autoimmune Diseases
• A Case of Miscommunication: Perturbed Host-Microbe Crosstalk
• Inferno Within: The Role of Sensory Systems in Immune-Induced Exaggerated Pain

Abundant Abstracts

At the meeting this year, there are 391 oral abstracts and 2300 poster abstracts, Manno said.

Out of 20 accepted late-breaking abstracts, six will be presented on Tuesday, November 19, at 8:00 AM. They include:

Manno also mentioned several abstracts to be presented at the plenary sessions on results from the SELECT-GCA trial (efficacy and safety of upadacitinib in giant cell arteritis), a urinary biomarker panel to predict the probability of histologically active lupus nephritis, and improved fertility in women with RA when treated with a treat-to-target approach.

Pre-Meeting Courses

Even before the meeting officially kicks off with the opening session on the afternoon of Friday, November 15, there are several pre-meeting courses on Thursday, November 14, and earlier on Friday. The Global Summit on Thursday focuses on issues in rheumatology around the world, including artificial intelligence and global health, the intersection of infectious disease and rheumatology, and both individual and population impacts of war. Admission to the Global Summit as well as the review course on Friday, November 15, are included in ACR Convergence all-access registration.

The Basic and Clinical Research Conference this year will discuss cardiometabolic and rheumatic diseases and the emerging interdisciplinary field of cardio-rheumatology.

In addition, ultrasound courses have returned this year, Manno said, taking place on November 14-15.

“This is the perfect opportunity for rheumatologists to start on an ultrasound journey or hone their already established ultrasound skills,” she said.