In our Risk-RA cohort the finding of increased levels of IL-6 in the Risk-RA phase, something also seen in Pre-RA studies [24, 32], is a sign of inflammation in individuals progressing to arthritis, although the levels are comparable to the levels in healthy controls (Supplementary Fig. S3, available at Rheumatology online). This evidence concerns the gene IL6 and rheumatoid arthritis.