The Number of Elevated Cytokines and Chemokines in Preclinical Seropositive Rheumatoid Arthritis Predicts Time to Diagnosis in an Age-Dependent Manner.

The article evaluates levels of cytokines and chemokines in preclinical rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and develops a model for the prediction of time to future diagnosis of seropositive RA. The study included stored samples from 73 military cases with seropositive RA prior to diagnosis and from controls. The results showed elevated levels of biomarkers in the preclinical RA development period. The number of elevated cytokines/chemokines in preclinical autoantibody-positive cases is predictive of the time of diagnosis of future RA in an age-dependent manner.