The soluble biomarker calprotectin (a S100 protein) is associated to ultrasonographic synovitis scores and is sensitive to change in patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with adalimumab

Table 1 Median (range) of the laboratory, clinical and US scores

	Baseline	1 month	3 months	6 months	12 months
Calprotectin, mg/l (normal ≤ 0.9l)	2.02 (0.56 to 20.44)	0.92 (0.32 to 18.86)**	0.93 (0.28 to 6.30)**	0.94 (0.24 to 22.02)**	1.08 (0.36 to 17.60)
SAA mg/l (normal ≤ 6.4)	10.60 (2.17 to 300)	6.94 (1.37 to 270)*	4.19 (0.70 to 38.5)**	4.39 (1.61 to 176)*	8.37 (1.12 to 136)
CRP, mg/l (normal ≤ 4)	4.5 (1 to 136)	2.0 (1 to 163)	2.5 (1 to 26)**	2.5 (1 to 78)	4.5 (1 to 86)
ESR, mm/h (normal ≤ 20)	20 (3 to 67)	13 (3 to 108)**	14.5 (2 to 65)**	14.5 (5 to 99)	17.5 (3 to 78)
DAS28	5.32 (3.40 to 7.70)	4.20 (1.56 to 8.90)**	4.26 (0.83 to 7.02) **	4.36 (1.59 to 7.58)**	4.33 (1.40 to 6.60)**
Assessors VAS	26 (6 to 55)	15 (4 to 52)*	14 (3 to 40)**	11 (2 to 57)	10 (3 to 44)**
No of swollen joints (of 40)	8 (1 to 19)	5 (0 to 22)	6 (0 to 16)**	4 (0 to 16)*	4 (0 to 14)**
No of tender joints (of 40)	12 (0 to 23)	9 (0 to 35)	7 (0 to 16)**	6 (0 to 16)**	7 (0 to 21)**
BM score	53 (6 to 151)	39 (3 to 121)**	35 (6 to 94)**	24 (0 to 86)**	27 (1 to 96)**
PD score	33 (0 to 119)	21 (0 to 83)**	16 (2 to 53)**	14 (0 to 76)**	13 (0 to 72)**

*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 (Wilcoxon signed rank test for changes from baseline to the different follow-up examinations).
BM, B-mode; CRP, C-reactive protein; DAS28, Disease Activity Score 28 joints; ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; PD, power Doppler; SAA, serum amyloid A; Assessors VAS, assessors global disease activity score on a visual analogue scale (0 to 100).

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