Footnotes

• Funding This research was performed with support from the ‘TRACER’ consortium in the framework of the Center for Translational Molecular Medicine (CTMM) (http://www.ctmm.nl)

• Competing interests DvS and CLV are inventors on a patent application, where the use of the gene signatures for the diagnosis of preclinical RA is described.

• Patient consent Obtained.

• Ethics approval Centrale Commissie Mensgebonden Onderzoek Slotervaartziekenhuis en Reade.

• Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.