Table 2. Correlation of baseline serum levels of cytokines biomarkers.

	IL–6		TNF–α		Gal–9
	rs	P value	rs	P value	rs	P value
IL–6	-	-	0.275	0.001	0.326	<0.001
TNF–α	0.275	0.001	-	-	0.358	<0.001
Gal–9	0.326	<0.001	0.358	<0.001	-	-
sTIM–3	0.281	0.001	0.215	0.015	0.517	<0.001
ACPA	-0.044	0.620	0.029	0.744	0.294	0.001
	sTIM–3		ACPA
	rs	P value	rs	P value
IL–6	0.281	0.001	-0.044	0.620
TNF–α	0.215	0.015	0.029	0.744
Gal–9	0.517	<0.001	0.294	0.001
sTIM–3	-	-	0.236	0.007
ACPA	0.236	0.007	-	-

The results were obtained using Spearman`s correlation coefficient. ACPA = anti-citrullinated peptide antibodies. Gal–9 = galectin–9, IL–6 = interleukin–6, sTIM–3 = serum T cell immunoglobulin mucin–3, TNF–α = tumor necrosis factor–α.