Simple blood test can predict rheumatoid arthritis attacks

RHEUMATOID arthritis attacks can be predicted up to a week in advance by using a simple finger-prick blood test, research has revealed.

A four-year study, which took weekly blood tests on patients, has pinpointed when arthritis sufferers can expect flare-ups of painful symptoms. The scientists said a type of cell, that had never been seen in humans, presented itself up to seven days before an attack and could be instrumental to diagnosis and treatment.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a disease of the immune system that causes inflammation in the joints – especially around the hands and feet – and it affects more than 500,000 people in the UK.

In the study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, researchers from Rockefeller University referred to these new cells as Prime (pre-inflammation mesenchymal) cells as they are a form of stem cell that turns into bone or cartilage. After combining their findings with those from Harvard University, where researchers noticed similar cells in mice, the team now believes the cells are being triggered prior to an attack, are present in an inflamed rheumatoid arthritis joint and may be contributing to the inflammation.

The findings could help inform sufferers that they are about to experience a flare-up but they could also aid the discovery of treatments which can block the cells from appearing altogether.

“We have ongoing studies now to look not only for these cells in more patients but to characterise these Prime cells in great detail,” the study’s lead author, Prof Robert Darnell, said.

By analysing the RNA, which is found within a cell’s DNA, researchers identified those present during symptom-free times and in the weeks before a flare-up. In blood collected a week before, there was an increase in RNA which resembled that of bone, cartilage or muscle cells – not typically found in the blood. The study followed 23 patients over four years.

Professor David Isenberg, on behalf of Versus Arthritis, said the findings could prove “invaluable in the management of this debilitating disease”. But he added “very little data” had been made available and cautioned against describing it as a “breakthrough”.

‘We have ongoing studies now to look not only for these cells in more patients, but in great detail’