This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Study: Serum 14-3-3eta differentiates healthy individuals from patients with RA

Add topic to email alerts

Receive an email when new articles are posted on

Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on .

Subscribe

Added to email alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

Back to Healio

We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.

Back to Healio

In a comparison of healthy individuals and patients with rheumatoid arthritis, serum 14-3-3eta discriminated both early and established rheumatoid arthritis and was comparable to rheumatoid factor and anticitrullinated peptide antibodies, helping to enhance their diagnostic capability, according to recently published study results.

“While previous research established that 14-3-3eta is found in higher levels in patients with RA than healthy patients, our study demonstrates the clinical usefulness of 14-3-3eta for improved diagnostic capacity of testing for early RA,” Walter Maksymowych, MD, medical research professor, Medicine and Rheumatologist at the University of Alberta, Canada, stated in a press release.

Researchers used a quantitative ELISA to assess serum 14-3-3eta levels, comparing early and established patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to all controls, including healthy individuals. Researchers also determined the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of 14-3-3eta and the likelihood ratios for RA. For the diagnosis of early and established RA, researchers assessed the incremental value of adding 14-3-3eta to anticitrullinated protein antibody (ACPA) and rheumatoid factor (RF).

Study results showed serum 14-3-3eta differentiated healthy individuals and controls from patients with established RA. A sensitivity of 77% and specificity of 93% were delivered with a serum 14-3-3eta cutoff of 0.19 ng/mL or greater. At the same cutoff, 64% of patients with early RA were positive for 14-3-3eta and had a corresponding specificity of 93%, while 59% of patients were positive for ACPA and 57% for RF, according to study results. Researchers found 78% of patients with early RA were positive for any one of the three markers when ACPA, RF and 14-3-3eta positivity were used in combination. Although serum 14-3-3ŋ did not correlate with C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate or Disease Activity Score, patients who were positive for 14-3-3eta had significantly worse disease.

“Combined testing of 14-3-3eta with established markers will help provide physicians with more definitive diagnostic information and help facilitate early treatment with disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs,” he said.

Reference:

Maksymowych WP. J Rheumatol. 2014;doi:10.3899/jrheum.131446.

Disclosure: The researchers receive support from Augurex Life Sciences Corp.