ELABORATION AND APPLICATION OF THE DIAGNOSTIC INDEX BASED ON MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF BIOMARKERS TO DETERMINE THE ACTIVITY OF RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a heterogeneous disease. The pathogenesis of this disease is based on a complex combination of genetically determined and acquired defects of the regulatory mechanisms that limit the pathological activation of the immune system in response to potentially pathogenic stimuli and often to physiologic stimuli. Modern antirheumatic drugs can effectively suppress the inflammatory process and largely deter the disease progression. However, their potential can be fully used only provided that the appropriate treatment strategy is applied, with regular monitoring of disease activity being the key component in the management of RA patients. Quantitative assessment of the patient's status allows one to develop standardized indications for antirheumatic therapy. Application of clinical indices for assessment of the disease activity does not guarantee complete objectivity of the results. Diagnostic indices based on multivariate analysis of biomarkers are being elaborated. Accumulation of the data on features of protein profile in RA patients gave grounds for elaborating an index to determine disease activity. This index is based on measuring concentration of biomarkers associated both with clinical indices and their components (multibiomarker disease activity, MBDA) – VECTRA DA. MBDA is currently the only clinically proven laboratory index that can be used to monitor RA activity and to predict the progression degree of destructive joint disease and therapy effectiveness.

Keywords

• rheumatoid arthritis
• biomarkers
• diagnostic index