Technical Advances in Transcriptional Profiling are Accelerating the Classification of Rheumatoid Arthritis-Juniper Publishers

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease that may affect many, if not all, synovial joints all over the body. RA is extremely prevalent, affecting about 0.7% of adults and over 21 million people worldwide. The mean age of onset of RA is typically between 50 and 60 years. Despite the fact that antibody-based biologic therapeutics, such as anti-TNF, anti-IL6, anti-B-cell and anti-T-cell, have revolutionized the management of RA only about 65-70% of patients respond to any of the currently available biologic treatments. Furthermore, a so-called successful response may equate to only 50% reduction in symptoms and many patients eventually stop responding over time. Consequently, the disease may result in chronic painful deformities with a decrease in life expectancy of approximately 5-10 years. Thus, there is an urgency to find more effective therapies for over 50% of patients with RA.

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