Association of Plasma CCDC88A Expression Combined with Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate with Rheumatoid Arthritis Disease Activity: A Cross-Sectional Exploratory Study.
4 affiliations
- 1Laboratory of Diagnostics and Clinical Epigenetics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rzeszow, Rzeszow, Poland.
- 2Laboratory of Genetic Diagnostics, Center for Innovative Research in Medical and Natural Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rzeszow, Rzeszow, Poland.
- 3Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rzeszow, Rzeszow, Poland.
- 4Department of Rheumatology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rzeszow, Rzeszow, Poland.
Abstract
Background
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity is assessed using composite clinical indices that combine examination findings, patient and physician‒reported assessments, and laboratory markers. Circulating RNA may provide complementary molecular information, but evidence for plasma RNA markers of current RA activity remains limited.Purpose
To identify plasma RNA transcripts associated with cross-sectional RA disease activity and to explore whether plasma RNAs concentration provides complementary discriminatory information when combined with hematological parameters.Patients and methods
This cross-sectional, two-stage study used targeted RNA sequencing to screen plasma from 25 patients with established RA and 14 healthy controls (HCs). Patients with RA were categorized as having high disease activity (HDA; DAS28-ESR >5.1, n=13) or low disease activity/remission (LDA/remission; DAS28-ESR ≤3.2, n=12). The expression of the leading candidate, CCDC88A, was assessed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) in 108 plasma samples, including 78 patients with RA and 30 HCs.Results
Plasma CCDC88A expression was lower in patients with RA than in HCs (median [interquartile range], 0.55 [0.29-0.81] vs 0.94 [0.59-1.12]; p=0.003). For cross-sectional discrimination between moderate activity and LDA/remission, the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.659 for CCDC88A, 0.746 for erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and 0.785 for their combination.Conclusion
Molecular markers, when combined with peripheral blood-derived parameters, such as ESR, may potentially serve as supporting indicators of RA disease activity.
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BibTeX
@article{ciesla2026association,
title = {{Association of Plasma CCDC88A Expression Combined with Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate with Rheumatoid Arthritis Disease Activity: A Cross-Sectional Exploratory Study.}},
author = {Marek Cieśla and Paweł Wołkow and Dorota Darmochwał-Kolarz and Dominika Podgórska and Bogdan Kolarz},
journal = {Journal of inflammation research},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.2147/jir.s626938},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42959293},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Association of Plasma CCDC88A Expression Combined with Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate with Rheumatoid Arthritis Disease Activity: A Cross-Sectional Exploratory Study.
AU - Marek Cieśla
AU - Paweł Wołkow
AU - Dorota Darmochwał-Kolarz
AU - Dominika Podgórska
AU - Bogdan Kolarz
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/24
JO - Journal of inflammation research
DO - 10.2147/jir.s626938
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42959293
AB - Background Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity is assessed using composite clinical indices that combine examination findings, patient and physician‒reported assessments, and laboratory markers. Circulating RNA may provide complementary molecular information, but evidence for plasma RNA markers of current RA activity remains limited.Purpose To identify plasma RNA transcripts associated with cross-sectional RA disease activity and to explore whether plasma RNAs concentration provides complementary discriminatory information when combined with hematological parameters.Patients and methods This cross-sectional, two-stage study used targeted RNA sequencing to screen plasma from 25 patients with established RA and 14 healthy controls (HCs). Patients with RA were categorized as having high disease activity (HDA; DAS28-ESR >5.1, n=13) or low disease activity/remission (LDA/remission; DAS28-ESR ≤3.2, n=12). The expression of the leading candidate, CCDC88A, was assessed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) in 108 plasma samples, including 78 patients with RA and 30 HCs.Results Plasma CCDC88A expression was lower in patients with RA than in HCs (median [interquartile range], 0.55 [0.29-0.81] vs 0.94 [0.59-1.12]; p=0.003). For cross-sectional discrimination between moderate activity and LDA/remission, the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.659 for CCDC88A, 0.746 for erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and 0.785 for their combination.Conclusion Molecular markers, when combined with peripheral blood-derived parameters, such as ESR, may potentially serve as supporting indicators of RA disease activity.
SN - 1178-7031
ER -