Multibiomarker Disease Activity Blood Test For Rheumatoid Arthritis

Assessment of disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an important component of management with a goal of treatment to maintain low disease activity or achieve remission. There are a variety of instruments for measuring RA disease activity. The instruments use combinations of physical exam findings, radiologic results, and serum biomarkers to construct a disease activity score. A multibiomarker disease activity (MBDA) instrument is a disease activity measure that is comprised entirely of serum biomarkers. The Vectra test is a commercially available MBDA blood test that measures 12 biomarkers to construct a disease activity score. Concentrations of these 12 biomarkers are entered into a proprietary formula which, after adjustment by age, gender, and adiposity (i.e., leptin) levels, generates a disease activity score ("adjusted MBDA score") that ranges from 1 (low disease activity) to 100 (high disease activity).