Can Blood Tests Detect Early-Stage Arthritis?

Inflammation of the joints — also known as arthritis — is a serious condition that affects many people. Not only does the condition not have a cure, but it is also very difficult to diagnose arthritis. Currently, doctors can use blood tests to confirm the diagnosis of some types of arthritis, but usually only when the patient presents some of the other symptoms associated with the condition. So, is there hope for a blood test that can diagnose the condition without patients presenting painful symptoms?

More common than expected

In the UK alone, arthritis affects around 10 million people. That’s nearly one in six. And it isn’t just the elderly. While it’s more common in older people, arthritis can affect people of any age — even children. As for different types, it can be broken down to osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

These two main types of the condition both cause swollen joints, but act in different ways. Osteoarthritis occurs when joint cartilage is damaged, resulting in stress on tendons and ligaments — and consequently swelling. Rheumatoid arthritis, on the other hand, is the result of the body’s immune system incorrectly targeting joints.

Blood testing

As mentioned, blood tests aren’t particularly effective for arthritis. They can only diagnose the less common rheumatoid arthritis, and only when other symptoms are also present. That may be about to change though. Scientists may have evidence to support the efficacy of a blood test that can detect arthritis in its early stage.

University of Warwick researchers conducted a study on 225 participants with different kinds of arthritis – both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis at different stages and with different severities — as well as some arthritis free patients to act as controls. Using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, they could analyse the blood of the participants for its chemical content.

Their findings? Several markers were identified in the blood that became more prevalent as the disease progressed. Using these markers — future blood tests could provide doctors with a way of detecting arthritis before the damaging symptoms have begun affecting sufferers. This opens a bigger period for preparation of controlling the symptoms, allowing doctors and physiotherapists more time to create a thorough plan for patients to manage the condition and the pain.

As simple as it sounds?

Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry has become a common method for analysing blood samples. It’s an effective way of separating the proteins and acids within the blood, but it can’t act alone. Because of the complexity of blood samples, they need to undergo thorough pre-treatment and preparation before analysis. This preparation phase itself has some important considerations, however, as explored in the article, ‘Navigating the Vast Array of Sample Preparation Techniques for Biological Samples – Whole Blood’.