Whole blood transcript profiling of rheumatoid arthritis patients

The whole blood was collected pre-treatment from rheumatoid arthritis patients starting the anti_TNF therapy. All patients were naïve to anti_TNFs. The disease activity was measured using the DAS28 score at the pre-treatment visit1 (DAS28_v1) and 14 weeks after treatment visit3 (DAS28_v3). The response to the therapy was evaluated using the EULAR [European League Against Rheumatism] definition of the response. The objective of the data analysis was to identify gene expression coorelating with response as well as to identify genes that differentiate responders versus non-responders pre-treatment. The results of this investigation identified 8 trainscripts that predict responders vs. non-responders with 89% accuracy. Patients' response to anti-TNF was assessed using EULAR score and patients were classified as responders, moderate responders and non-responders. Genes correlating with the response status have been identified.