Use of Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy in the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis: a pilot study

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune inflammatory disease leading to joint cartilage, bone degradation and limitation of mobility. Diagnosis of RA is difficult and complex. There are also no effective methods for clear discrimination between RA patients and non-RA individuals. In this work we use IR spectroscopy to differentiate RA patients and blood donors’ sera. We found differences between investigated sera (RA and non-RA) in range of 3000–2800 and 1800–800 cm −1 (W1–W5 regions). Based on mathematical analysis we developed a K-NN model characterized by 85 % of sensitivity and 100 % of specificity. Also we found that, wavenumber 1424 cm −1 , comprising in W3 region, was the most effective in human sera distinguishing. We conclude that IR spectroscopy may serve as a fast and easy method useful in RA serology.