The aim of this study was to validate the use of survivin for preclinical recognition of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) among patients with unexplained arthralgia.
Serum levels of survivin and the arthritis-specific autoantibodies RF and ACPA were measured in total of 5046 patients with musculoskeletal complains during 12 consecutive months in Gothenburg and in Umeå. Among them, 303 arthralgia patients were identified and prospectively followed.
After 48 months, 12.2% of the arthralgia patients developed RA. Most of RA cases had high serum survivin, which increased the relative risk for RA (RR = 5.90, p = 3 × 10
This study shows that measurement of survivin in serum improves estimation of RA risk and prospectively predicts RA development in patients with arthralgia. Survivin may indicate a phase preceding autoantibody production.