SAN DIEGO – Researchers say they've developed a novel blood-based assay that can differentiate patients with seropositive or seronegative rheumatoid arthritis from healthy people and those with other inflammatory diseases or osteoarthritis.
While cautioning that the results need to be confirmed, University of Oxford (England) rheumatologist Peter Taylor, PhD, MA, told an audience at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology that the test has an overall mean sensitivity of 90.8% (standard deviation, 0.94%; 95% confidence interval, 83.2%-95.4%) and mean specificity of 96.1% (SD, 0.64%; 95% CI, 92.7%-97.9%). The mean area under the curve (AUC) is 0.991 (SD, 0.001; 95% CI, 97.2%-99.6%).
"That is to say that it can correctly identify 96% of people without rheumatoid arthritis, and it can correctly identify over 90% of those who do have rheumatoid arthritis," Dr. Taylor said. In the big picture, he said, "we've developed a blood-based assay that detects both organ-specific and systemic biological processes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis."
Rheumatologist Kevin W. Byram, MD, of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn., who did not take part in the study but is familiar with its findings, noted in an interview that "there is a constant search for biomarkers to help aide in more accurate and faster diagnosis of all rheumatic conditions, including RA."
