Early, DN RA with <6 months symptom duration (<6 m DN) showed reduced levels of IL-7 (median 12.7 pg/ml, range 2.8 to 25.1 pg/ml), which reduced even more in 6 to 24 m DN RA (median 7.8 pg/ml, range 2.6 to 17.6 pg/ml). Here, IL7 is linked to rheumatoid arthritis.