The Role of Biomarkers in Diagnosis, Prognosis, Treatment, Determining Disease Activity in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory and complex autoimmune disease. It affects mainly small joints (of the hands and feet) and has many systemic manifestations.The study of biomarkers in rheumatology is important to understand the mechanism involved in some rheumatic diseases. Discovering new biomarkers with key roles in various stages of the disease remains as an important issue in RA patients. Biomarkers are important for diagnosis and prognosis, target therapy, and guiding the clinical and response treatment of all phases of RA. Biomarkers improve diagnosis by closing the serological gap, providing prognostic information that allows disease activity and progression to be monitored. Biomarkers can be correlated with a risk of developing RA and can predict bone erosions and disease progression. Therefore, there is a need for a sensitive biomarker for early diagnosis of the disease. Some biomarkers are not specific (Rheumatoid Factor IgM) and some are not widely used due to technical problems (Antiprenuclear factor). On the other hand, anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) in the serum of patients are more specific for these patients.This move from traditional approaches to use more specific biomarkers for patient stratification and targeted treatment should greatly improve patient care and reduce medical costs.