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Preclinical Rheumatoid Arthritis (Autoantibodies): An Updated Review

  • RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS (LW MORELAND, SECTION EDITOR)
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Abstract

Multiple studies demonstrate that there is a period of development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) during which there are elevations of disease-related biomarkers, including autoantibodies, in the absence of and prior to the development of RA; this period can be termed ‘preclinical RA’. These ‘preclinical’ autoantibodies including rheumatoid factor and antibodies to citrullinated protein antigens, and more recent studies have also identified additional autoantibodies and a wide range of inflammatory biomarkers. These findings in conjunction with established and emerging data about genetic and environmental risk factors for RA support a model of disease development where certain factors lead to an initial triggering of RA-related autoimmunity that expands over time to the point where symptomatic arthritis classifiable as RA develops. Herein will be reviewed updates in the field, as well as a discussion of current limitations of our understanding of preclinical RA, and potential future directions for study.

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Conflict of Interest

Kevin D. Deane has received funding from the Walter S. and Lucienne Driskill Foundation, the American College of Rheumatology Rheumatology Research Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, and AbbVie for the study of preclinical rheumatoid arthritis. He and others have submitted a patent application for the use of biomarkers to predict clinically actionable events in rheumatoid arthritis.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with animal subjects performed by any of the authors. With regard to the authors’ research cited in this paper, all procedures were followed in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 and 2008.

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  1. Division of Rheumatology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, 1775 Aurora Court, Mail Stop B-115, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA

    Kevin D. Deane

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Correspondence to Kevin D. Deane.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Rheumatoid Arthritis

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Deane, K.D. Preclinical Rheumatoid Arthritis (Autoantibodies): An Updated Review. Curr Rheumatol Rep 16, 419 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11926-014-0419-6

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