Researchers in the United States and Sweden have identified a genetic region associated with increased risk of rheumatoid arthritis , a chronic and debilitating inflammatory disease of the joints.
The results appeared in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
The U.S. group compared 908 blood samples from patients with rheumatoid arthritis from 1,282 people without the disease. The Swedish group compared 676 samples from patients with the disease with 673 controls.
Both groups' searches led them to a region of chromosome 9 containing two genes relevant to chronic inflammation: TRAF1 and C5.
"We were thrilled to find out that TRAF1-C5 showed association not only in the samples that we did but also independently in the Swedish group. By combining our information, we were able to make a much stronger case," says Elaine Remmers of the U.S. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) and an author of the study.
Remmers says the TRAF1-C5 region was the third of three major susceptibility chromosomal regions for rheumatoid arthritis identified by their whole genome screen. The first two, HLA-DRB1 and PTPN22, had already been well established.
She says that it's not yet known how the genes in the TRAF1-C5 region influence the risk of the disease. Nor can scientists say which of the two genes is causing the disease.
"Actually, both genes are very interesting candidates," she says. "They both control inflammatory processes that really are relevant for the disease, so we could easily envision either of them playing a role -- or both."
Source: Xinhua
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