Combination of peripheral blood gene expression profiles and clinical parameters predicts response for tocilizumab (anti-IL6) treatment in rheumatoid arthritis

We used microarrays to identify markers predicting responder status in tocilizumab treatment in rheumatoid arthritis in 13 patients at week 0 and week 4 of treatment. Peripheral blood samples were obtained at week 0 and week 4 of tocilizumab treatment and global gene expression profiling identified markers of responder status.