A Call for Gene Expression Analysis in Whole Blood of Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) as a Biomarker for RA-Associated Interstitial Lung Disease.

Objective: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA)-associated interstitial lung disease (ILD) is one of the most common and prognostic organ manifestations of RA. Therefore, to allow effective treatment, it is of crucial importance to diagnose RA-ILD at the earliest possible stage. So far, the gold standard of early detection has been high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) of the lungs.