First, the sample size of patients (males and females) was small, and the population was quite heterogeneous since some patients had longstanding disease, some patients were in remission, and others showed low to moderate disease activity, and, in addition, the patients were using a variety of medications, which could explain why we did not find a significant correlation between the biomarkers and RA-specific markers, apart from between serum zonulin and disease duration. This evidence concerns the gene HP and rheumatoid arthritis.