Abstract
The goal of the treatment of rheumatic diseases is an early and long-term remission. The number of available biological drugs in rheumatology increases, nevertheless 30% of patients does not respond to this therapy.
Therefore, there has been a search for biomarkers associated with good response which would allow us to start optimally effective treatment tailored for individual patients on time with minimal risk of side effects and at minimal costs. Nowadays, genetic and non-genetic predictors for efficacy of biological therapy are being studied.
The latter ones comprise acute phase reactants, autoantibodies, cytokines and receptors that are studied at both protein and RNA transcript levels in blood and synovial tissue. The study of the predictive value of response to therapy shifts from monitoring individual parameters to examination of protein and transcription profiles.
The topic has been elaborated as an informative report about current options of finding predictors for response to biological treatment.