BREAKING SCIENCE NEWS: GLYCANS PREDICTS RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS 10 YEARS BEFORE ONSET OF SYMPTOMS

The study was conducted by scientists led by Prof. Gordan Lauc and Prof. Dragan Primorac.

Scientists led by Prof. Gordan Lauc (Genos) and Prof. Dragan Primorac (St. Catherine's Hospital) undertook this study to determine whether altered IgG glycosylation precedes the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). They studied IgG glycosylation in RA in two prospective cohorts (N = 14,749) by measuring 28 IgG glycan traits in 179 subjects who developed RA within 10-years follow-up and 358 matched controls.

The difference in IgG glycosylation was relatively stable and present years before diagnosis. This indicates that long-acting factors affecting IgG glycome composition are among the underlying mechanisms of RA and that decreased galactosylation is a pre-existing risk factor involved in the disease development. The discovery could lead to the development of a new diagnostic algorithm that could predict a person's risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis years before the onset of symptoms.

The results of the study were published  in Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Molecular Basis of Disease ScienceDirect