It’s time for Rheumatology RoundUp from EULAR 2026 from London, UK. Drs. Artie Kavanaugh and Jack Cush review their choice presentations from the meeting, offering their perspectives on impact and applicability.

CAR-T at #EULAR2026 raised as many questions as it answered. Here's what we know, what we're still asking, and why the answers matter.

The emergence of large language models (LLMs) represents a promising shift in how complex diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are communicated and interpreted across both patient and clinical settings. Two EULAR 2026 abstracts highlight the evolving role of LLMs across this spectrum, from patient-facing education to diagnostic reasoning.

Much of the meeting came for the next CAR T readout. AB-101 drew attention for a different reason. It depletes B cells by a completely different route.

Psoriatic arthritis develops in approximately 20 to 30 per cent of patients with psoriasis, yet predicting which patients will make the transition and when, has remained one of the most clinically challenging questions in rheumatology. A study presented at EULAR 2026 provides the most granular ultrasound characterisation yet of the journey from psoriasis, through subclinical disease, to early clinical PsA. The study identifies the specific imaging features that distinguish patients whose arthralgia is progressing toward arthritis from those who remain stable.

Dr. Sun et al. from Duke University presented abstract POS0692 during one of the poster sessions entitled, “Lupus patients with concurrent inflammatory activity and symptom burdens have the lowest medication adherence and experience distinct adherence barriers.” They evaluated differences in self-reported medication adherence and reasons for nonadherence across Type 1 & 2 SLE classification groups, with a prespecified focus on comparing the Mixed Activity group to all other groups.

Imaging in the preclinical phase of RA is moving fast—arguably faster than our ability to interpret what we are actually seeing.