Background: Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a chronic, systemic autoimmune inflammatory disease primarily affecting the joints. Despite the availability of diagnostic tools, identifying novel biomarkers that reflect joint pathology remains crucial for the accurate evaluation of RA.Objective: To assess the serum levels of novel joint-related biomarkers (aggrecan, fibulin-1, lubricin, and human beta-defensin 3 HBD-3) in females with RA, and to determine their diagnostic performance compared to healthy controls (HC).Materials and methods: This case-control study included 60 female RA patients and 60 age-matched HC. Serum concentrations of aggrecan, fibulin-1, lubricin, HBD-3, and anti-citrullinated protein antibody (ACPA) were determined using ELISA kits. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) was measured via the standard Westergren method.Results: Serum levels of aggrecan, fibulin-1, lubricin, and HBD-3 were significantly increased in RA patients compared to HC (P-value = 0.0001). For predicting disease status, the biomarkers yielded the following area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve values: aggrecan (0.947, cut-off > 15.80 ng/mL), fibulin-1 (0.885, cut-off > 7.975 ng/mL), HBD-3 (0.885, cut-off > 325.2 pg/mL), and lubricin (0.719, cut-off > 169.4 pg/mL). Additionally, these biomarkers showed significant positive correlations with each other and with ACPA levels.Conclusion: Serum aggrecan, fibulin-1, lubricin, and HBD-3 are significantly elevated in RA patients, indicating strong disease association and high diagnostic potential. Future longitudinal studies are required to establish definitive clinical utility in monitoring disease activity.
Shihab et al. (Tue,) studied this question.