Four new biomarkers have been identified that can help in the early diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the European League Against Rheumatism (Madrid; June 12-15). The findings may improve RA diagnosis, particularly among the one-third of patients who test negative for current diagnostic markers–rheumatoid factor (RF) and antibodies directed against cyclic citrullinated peptides (ACCP). The researchers utilized enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay antibody reactivity testing to assess four candidate biomarkers (UH-RA.1, UH-RA.9, UH-RA.14, and UH-RA.21) in 127 RA patients, 97 healthy controls, and 87 patients with other rheumatic conditions. Additional testing was performed in a validation cohort of 166 RA patients. The study population included 52 early RA patients. Of the total sample of 293 RA patients, 24 percent could not be identified using the current diagnostic biomarkers RF and ACCP. But the four candidate biomarkers identified RA in 26 percent of the RF-negative, ACCP-negative population, thereby reducing the serological gap from 24 percent to 17 percent. Of the 69 seronegative RA patients, UH-RA.1 identified 7 percent and UH-RA.21 identified 17 percent. Combining all four markers into one panel achieved a sensitivity of 30 percent and a specificity of 83 percent for […]