A Study of Novel Immune Modulating Biomarkers in Patients With Spondyloarthritis With Axial Involvement

Spondyloarthritis refers to a set of inflammatory disorders that mainly afflict the spine, joints and ligaments. A subtype of spondyloarthritis is Ankylosing Spondylitis - now known as axial spondyloarthropathy - which is characterized by inflammation of the joints in the spinal column, and the part of the back where the spine meets the pelvis. Another subtype of spondyloarthritis is Psoriatic Arthritis where patients often develop raised patches of reddened skin. The disease can advance to one of more joints in the body resulting in pain, swelling and stiffness. These forms of inflammatory arthritis can become chronic and over time can lead to pain, disability and deformity. There is now evidence that patients with inflammatory arthritis that are diagnosed and treated earlier in the course of their symptoms may have better results. Yet although we know that early treatment is important, the investigators still don't know if there are factors that can predict how an individual patient's disease will progress over time in terms of losing mobility. The investigators also do not know the relationship between loosing mobility and the formation of bone around the spine and joints. The investigators are doing this study because the investigators want to learn more about patients with these forms of arthritis - Ankylosing Spondylitis and Psoriatic Arthritis. The investigators want to learn more about the factors that can predict how their disease might progress over time and what their response to treatment might be. The investigators would also like to determine the proportion of patients with these types of symptoms and describe the best treatment strategies for them.