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Dr Charlotte Thompson

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Dr Charlotte Thompson (MBBCh MRCP(Rheum) MD)

Senior Lecturer and Honorary Rheumatology Consultant
E: C.Thompson@bsms.ac.uk

Area of expertise: Rheumatology

Research areas: Early inflammatory arthritis, connective tissue disease and chronic pain

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Biography

Dr Charlotte Thompson is a senior lecturer in Rheumatology at BSMS. She completed her medicine degree at Cardiff University and then did her junior doctor training in Wales and Hamilton, New Zealand. Upon return she gained her MRCP qualification in Bristol before completing her rheumatology registrar training and MD in Cardiff.

Qualifications:

MBBCH – Cardiff University 2008
Member of Royal College of Physicians – 2012
Rheumatology Specialist Exam – 2015
Doctor of Medicine – 2019

Research

Dr Charlotte Thompson's MD looked at the adaptive immune system in early inflammatory arthritis (Rheumatoid Arthritis), plus the interaction and impact of concurrent viruses eg. CMV. Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis is very generic, rather than individually targeted. Given the toxicity of the medications we use in Rheumatology, she wanted to see if there was a cell surface receptor that indicated severe disease. If this cell surface marker was raised (KLRG1 on CD28- cells), we could as doctors, potentially individualise treatment more effectively.

Another area of interest is the aetiology and management / treatment of fibromyalgia and ME/CFS. These conditions are hugely misunderstood by the public as well as the medical community. If more can be discovered about the cause and pathology then we can potentially find targets for treatment.

The innate immune system in rheumatic diseases in particular rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus is another area of interest. Innate immune cells generate inflammation in response to pathogens but are also activated by host molecules released at site of inflammation and tissue damage. This can lead to chronic tissue inflammation as observed in autoimmunity. Understanding the contribution of these cells to the disease is key to discovering novel targets for therapy.

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Teaching

Dr Charlotte Thompson is the Rheumatology Module Lead and enjoys the responsibility of curriculum design and delivery for the Year 4 medical students. She regularly has students in clinic with her to learn about clinical rheumatology. No clinic is the same, so the variation of pathology that is experienced is a pleasure to discuss and learn from.

As a lecturer for Immunology in Year 2, Dr Thompson leads tutorials and lectures for the basic science aspect of the BSMS medical degree. Her favourite part of the Year 2 teaching is the symposium. This is where attendees meet a patient with the pathology they have been learning about and they can put into practice all the new knowledge that has been gained.

Publications

Partridge, S., Quadt, L., Bolton, M., Eccles, J., Thompson, C., Colasanti, A., Bremner, S., Jones, C.I., Due Bruun, K. and Van Marwijk, H., A Systematic Literature Review on the Clinical Efficacy of Low Dose Naltrexone and its Effect on Putative Pathophysiological Mechanisms Among Patients Diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. Available at SSRN 4232750. October 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4232750

Humby F, Durez PD, Buch MH, Lewis MJ, Rizvi H, Rivellese F, et al, Rituximab versus tocilizumab in anti-TNF inadequate responder patients with rheumatoid arthritis (R4RA): 16-week outcomes of a stratified, biopsy-driven, multicentre, open-label, phase 4 randomised controlled trial, The Lancet, Volume 397, Issue 10271, 2021, Pages 305-317, ISSN 0140-6736, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32341-2. (C Thompson in collaborative group.)

Ceeraz S, Thompson CR, Beatson R, Choy EH. Harnessing CD8+CD28− Regulatory T Cells as a Tool to Treat Autoimmune Disease. Cells. 2021; 10(11):2973. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells10112973 Review.

Charlotte Thompson, Ruth Davies, Anwen Williams, Gareth Jones and Ernest H.S. Choy. “CD28− Cells Are Increased in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis and Are Linked With Cytomegalovirus Status” Front. Med., 05 May 2020.https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2020.00129

Peripheral regulatory CD8+CD28−KLRG1+ T cells as markers of disease and treatment response in rheumatoid arthritis. Charlotte Thompson, Richard Beatson, Ruth Davies, Claire Greenhill, Simon A. Jones, Anwen S. Williams, Gareth W. Jones, Ernest HS Choy. medRxiv 2020.09.02.20186635; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.09.02.20186635

Rawlings C, Oglesby K, Sen A, Turner J. ‘Comparison of Two Clinical Scoring Systems in Risk Stratification of Non-ST Elevation Acute Coronary Syndrome Patients in Predicting 30 Day Outcomes.’ Emerg Med J. 2012 Jan;29(1):40-2. doi:10.1136/emj.2010.102301.

Reviews

Thompson C, Piguet V, Choy E. International journal of Dermatology: Pathogenesis of Dermatomyositis. Br J Dermatol. 2017 May 24. doi: 10.1111/bjd.15607.

Thompson C, Davies R, Choy E. Cytokine Journal Review: Anti Cytokine Therapy in Chronic Inflammatory Arthritis. (2016) Cytokine. 2016 Oct;86:92-9. doi: 10.1016/j.cyto.2016.07.015.

Rawlings C, Fremlin GA, Nash J and Harding K. International Wound Journal: A rheumatology perspective on cutaneous vasculitis: assessment and investigation for the non-rheumatologist. (2016).13: 17–21. doi: 10.1111/iwj.12437

Rawlings C, Choy E. The future of biological agents in the treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis. International Journal of Clinical Rheumatology: The future of biological agents in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Int. J. Clin. Rheumatol. (2014) 9(5), 475–486

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