medwireNews: Serum connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) is a promising diagnostic biomarker for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), according to research published in Arthritis Research & Therapy.
Jianguang Wang (Wenzhou Medical University, China) and colleagues found significantly higher serum and synovial levels of the marker among 98 Chinese patients with RA compared with 103 healthy controls, at 293.9 versus 30.0 pg/mL and 534.0 versus 23.9 pg/mL, respectively. They also observed a “strong association” between serum and synovial levels, suggesting that “they are from the same source.”
And in a validation cohort of 572 patients, serum CTGF at a threshold level of 88.66 pg/mL was able to differentiate between patients with RA and those with other inflammatory conditions, with a positive predictive value of 0.85 and a negative predictive value of 0.90.
Furthermore, CTGF was better able to distinguish between patients with and without RA than the currently used biomarkers anti-citrullinated protein antibody (ACPA) and rheumatoid factor, and combining all three markers “had the best diagnostic efficiency.”
Although they note further studies are required to determine whether the results are applicable to other populations, Wang and colleagues “recommend CTGF for clinical use in diagnosing RA and distinguishing RA from other rheumatic diseases.”
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