Interleukin 15 levels in serum may predict a severe disease course in patients with early arthritis.

Background: Interleukin-15 (IL-15) is thought to be involved in the physiopathological mechanisms of RA and it can be detected in the serum and the synovial fluid of inflamed joints in patients with RA but not in patients with osteoarthritis or other inflammatory joint diseases. Therefore, the objective of this work is to analyse whether serum IL-15 (sIL-15) levels serve as a biomarker of disease severity in patients with early arthritis (EA).

Methodology And Results: Data from 190 patients in an EA register were analysed (77.

Characterization of serum interleukin-15 in healthy volunteers and patients with early arthritis to assess its potential use as a biomarker.

As interleukin-15 (IL-15) has been implicated in the pathophysiology of rheumatoid arthritis, we analysed the serum IL-15 (sIL-15) levels in healthy subjects and patients with early arthritis to establish a cut-off point that might serve to define elevated sIL-15. This is an initial step to determine whether sIL-15 has the potential for use as a biomarker for patients with early arthritis. The IL-15 concentration was measured in serum obtained from 161 healthy controls and from 174 patients with early arthritis, and the relationship between the expression of the two IL-15 mRNA variants and the sIL-15 levels was also assessed.