Increased galectin-3 may serve as a serologic signature of pre-rheumatoid arthritis while markers of synovitis and cartilage do not differ between early undifferentiated arthritis subsets

Undifferentiated arthritis (UA) is a label applied to patients with joint complaints which cannot be classified according to current criteria, which implies a need for precision diagnostic technologies. We studied serum galectin-3, a proinflammatory mediator, and seromarkers of structural joint elements in patients with early, UA and their associations with disease profile and biochemical and imaging findings.