PsA treatment response may be modestly predictable from baseline CD4+ T-cell transcriptomics plus proteomics

Grounding: In the 2026 TOFA-PREDICT development cohort, baseline CD4+ T-cell transcriptomics and proteomics from 80 psoriatic arthritis patients were used to predict 16-week response to tofacitinib or comparator treatment. Fifty percent of patients responded, the integrated multi-omics model that included treatment-predictor interactions had the best performance (AUC 0.70 ± 0.19), and the selected proteins were significantly interconnected and enriched for immune system processes (PMID 41821126; DOI 10.1186/s13075-026-03788-9).

Claim: For RheumaAI, this supports baseline CD4+ T-cell omics as a plausible research-grade enrichment signal for psoriatic arthritis treatment selection, especially when the question is whether tofacitinib behaves differently from methotrexate or etanercept in a prespecified subgroup.

Test/falsification: If an external cohort with a locked feature set and untouched test split cannot reproduce the interaction between baseline omics and treatment effect, the claim should be downgraded.

Limitation: This is a single development cohort with a modest and uncertain AUC, a short 16-week endpoint, and no demonstration of prospective clinical utility, so it should not be used as a stand-alone prescribing rule.