{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,24]],"date-time":"2026-02-24T11:13:39Z","timestamp":1771931619138,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,12]],"date-time":"2026-02-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1770854400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Immunol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Conventional biomarkers for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) only have a ~70% sensitivity, making early diagnosis difficult. With its high concentration in synovial fluid, the 14-3-3\u03b7 protein is a promising new biomarker for the early identification of RA in Chinese people.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>In this case-control study, 90 disease controls, 110 healthy controls, 72 established RA patients, and 56 early RA patients were enrolled. The 14-3-3\u03b7 protein\u2019s diagnostic performance was evaluated utilizing ROC curve analysis in comparison to anti-CCP antibodies, RF, CRP, IgM, and ESR. To control for confounding variables, multivariable logistic regression models that were adjusted for sex and age were used.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>14-3-3\u03b7 showed exceptional diagnostic performance, with AUC \u22650.85 for both early and developed RA. In early RA, anti-CCP demonstrated better specificity (96.4%) and a positive likelihood ratio (21.2%), while 14-3-3\u03b7 had the highest sensitivity (88.1%) and the lowest negative likelihood ratio (0.14). There were no significant associations between 14-3-3\u03b7 and traditional markers (P&amp;gt;0.05) according to Spearman correlation analysis.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>14-3-3\u03b7 protein serves as an independent and highly sensitive biomarker for early RA diagnosis, particularly valuable for ruling out disease. These biomarkers, combined with the high specificity of anti-CCP, provide supplementary diagnostic benefits for complete early RA assessment.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2026.1746239","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,12]],"date-time":"2026-02-12T05:32:17Z","timestamp":1770874337000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Diagnostic performance of serum 14-3-3\u03b7 protein versus conventional serological markers in early rheumatoid arthritis"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Tiantian","family":"Liu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Laboratory Medicine, Pingtan Comprehensive Experimental Area Hospital","place":["Fuzhou, Fujian, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Wenbin","family":"Guo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology, Pingtan 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