A Study To Investigate Markers Of Inflammation In Rheumatoid Arthritis

An Enabling Study to Investigate the Correlation of Biomarkers of the Activity of Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase (iNOS) With Disease Activity and Treatment Response in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis(RA)

This study is being conducted to validate various biomarkers in patients with RA with varying levels of disease severity. Subjects with a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) will be included as controls. The sudy will measure the baseline levels and the intra- and inter-subject variability of exhaled nitric oxide (NO) in patients with inactive/mild and moderate/severe RA on stable therapy or during a course glucocorticoids. In addition exhaled NO levels will be correlated with intra-articular inflammation (power Doppler ultrasonography) as well as markers of systemic inflammation (CRP, ESR).

Inclusion criteria:

• Diagnosis of rheumatoid or osteo-arthritis.
• Weight greater than 45kg (females) or 50kg (males) but not overweight.
• Non-smokers.
• Taking stable anti-inflammatory medication for Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) or Osteoarthritis (OA) for at least 8 weeks.

Exclusion criteria:

• Taking regular doses of glucocorticoid medication (greater than 5mg/day).
• Currently taking biological treatment for RA.
• Recent participation in another clinical trial.