High levels of metastasis-inducing S100A4 protein and treatment outcome in early rheumatoid arthritis: data from the PERAC cohort.

Abstract The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of S100A4 as a biomarker in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA). S100A4 levels were measured in 59 patients with early RA and in 41 healthy controls. The association between the S100A4 levels and the treatment outcome after 12 months was determined using multivariate regression analysis. Serum S100A4 levels were significantly higher in the patients with early RA than in the healthy subjects and significantly decreased after 3 months of treatment. Diseases activity at 12 months was significantly higher in female patients who had initially high levels of S100A4. Persistently high S100A4 levels predicted poor treatment outcome and S100A4 may thus represent promising biomarker for assessing treatment response in patients with RA.