Interesting commentary from the New England Journal of Medicine concerning Genomewide Association Study of Rheumatoid Arthritis.
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMe078174?query=T OC
Lynn
Lynn,
Did you see this on ScienceDaily ? It goes along with the commentary that you posted from the NEJM. The genetic component of RA is facsinating isn't it. I find the whole human genome project to be very intriguing. Hope you are feeling better.
"The human genome has now been thoroughly screened in the hunt for the genetic causes of rheumatoid arthritis. The results, which both confirms previous hypotheses and turn the spotlight on entirely new genes, are presented in two articles in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Rheumatoid arthritis is the most common rheumatic disease, and affects approximately one per cent of the population. Its causes are unknown, but scientists believe that the chances of developing the disease are determined as much by genetic factors as they are by environment and lifestyle.
An international team of researchers from Sweden, the USA and Singapore, led by professors Lars Klareskog and Lars Alfredsson at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet together with PhD group leader Mark Seielstad at the A*STAR funded national Genome Institute of Singapore, has compared the genomes of over 1,5000 rheumatics with those of 1,850 controls. Their analysis shows that the DNA of these two groups are at a variance at three sites, two genes previously linked to the disease and a previously unresearched gene complex known as TRAF-C5.
The Swedish and American researchers have also used the same material to examine the significance of a specific area of the genome. They found that yet another gene, STAT 4, could be linked to the disease.
The previously studied genes and the newly discovered TRAF-C5 and STAT4 genes are each important in its own way for the function of the body's immune cells.
"It's exciting that we've found new, single genes that impact on the risk of disease, but what's most important is that we've now got a broader base for understanding the mechanisms behind the development and course of the disease," says Professor Klareskog. "Since the two most crucial genes are already known, this shows that we're on the right track."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070906100749.ht m
Sarah
The question I have is...so if you have the gene and it gets turned on my environmental factors (infection, whatever) how does anybody propose to turn that gene off?
The gene therapy studies are in shambles.
Don't get me wrong - it's good they're mapping stuff - but anybody want to place a bet on the importance of mitrocondrial DNA in all this?
Pip
For some reason my link isn't working. I think it's because there is a space between t and the m in htm. I tried to fix it but it won't let me. You can go to sciencedaily.com and click onto the health/medicine site. Then all you have to do is find the arthritis under diseases and conditions. I'm sorry that I could not fix it.Did anybody notice that in the huge RA bills before congress what they did was pull out the "JRA" kids to gain sympathy?
Who posted that link a while back about the various diseases and the dollars spent per disease? RA was something like a person compared to the others.
Pip
Unfortunately, people think that arthritis is no big deal. Most people, unless they have RA or know someone who does, have no idea how serious a disease RA is. They see the commercials about taking an aleve for arthritis pain and they don't understand.One of my suppossed "friends" saw a commercial about an RA drug, can't remember which one, but it's the one where there is a young mother walking with her daughter and it show her stooped over with a cane and then after taking this miraculous drug, I think it was Humira, she is walking hand in hand with her daugher with no assistance needed.
Anyway, my "friend" says, why don't you take that drug and then you'll be all better and cured. HA, there is no cure I tell her. She has the audacity to say well according to the commercial you'll be all better so why don't I stop whining and just take a pill.
Argh! We don't even have those commercials in Canada and yet I'm stillGimpy, we dont have them in the UK either (thank goodness). The word arthritis triggers an 'oh that's all' response with people who dont understand what it actually is, it makes me mad too
On the bright side, I''m hoping that by the time I'm really, really bad gene therapy will be available in some form or another to everyone whose got it (I know wishful thinking and all that.. I cant help it).
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