Abstract
IntroductionThe aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of diagnosing early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by measuring selected metabolic biomarkers.MethodsWe compared the metabolic profile of patients with RA with that of healthy controls and patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsoA). The metabolites were measured using two different chromatography-mass spectrometry platforms, thereby giving a broad overview of serum metabolites. The metabolic profiles of patient and control groups were compared using multivariate statistical analysis. The findings were validated in a follow-up study of RA patients and healthy volunteers.ResultsRA patients were diagnosed with a sensitivity of 93% and a specificity of 70% in a validation study using detection of 52 metabolites. Patients with RA or PsoA could be distinguished with a sensitivity of 90% and a specificity of 94%. Glyceric acid, D-ribofuranose and hypoxanthine were increased in RA patients, whereas histidine, threonic acid, methionine, cholesterol, asparagine and threonine were all decreased compared with healthy controls.ConclusionsMetabolite profiling (metabolomics) is a potentially useful technique for diagnosing RA. The predictive value was without regard to the presence of antibodies against cyclic citrullinated peptides.
Highlights
The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of diagnosing early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by measuring selected metabolic biomarkers
Clinical sampling Study 1 Blood samples were collected from 25 patients with RA according to the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 1987 criteria [21] and from 20 patients fulfilling the Moll and Wright classification criteria [22], as well as the newly proposed CASPAR (Classification Criteria for Psoriatic Arthritis) classification criteria for established psoriatic arthritis (PsoA) [23]
Orthogonal projections to latent structuresdiscriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) classification models were constructed for the discrimination between RA patients and healthy controls and between RA patients and PsoA patients, respectively
Summary
The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of diagnosing early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by measuring selected metabolic biomarkers. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease in which the synovial tissues of the affected joints are invaded by cells of the immune system [1,2]. The hands and feet are affected, but other joints may be progressively involved. Patients with RA experience a progressive destruction of the affected joints, leading to disability. Since the aetiology, apart from the identification of some genes associated with the disease, remains largely unknown, causal treatment is basically unavailable. Even though the value of early intervention in RA has been appreciated for a long time, the diagnostic criteria
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