dyslimbic
10-08-2007, 05:51 AM
Researchers Identify Genes That Increase Rheumatoid Arthritis Risk
Researchers in the United States and Sweden have identified a genetic region associated with increased risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a chronic and debilitating inflammatory disease of the joints that affects an estimated 2.1 million Americans. The U.S. arm of the study involved a long-time collaboration between intramural researchers of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) and other organizations. NIAMS is one of 27 institutes and centers at the National Institutes of Health. The results appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Using the relatively new genome-wide association approach — which makes it possible to analyze between 300,000 and 500,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs, or small differences in DNA that are distributed throughout a person’s genetic code) — researchers in both countries searched for genetic differences in blood samples from people with RA compared to controls. The U.S. group compared 908 samples from patients provided by the North American Rheumatoid Arthritis Consortium (NARAC) — a group of investigators working together to identify the genetic factors that contribute to RA — with those from 1,282 people without RA (controls). The Swedish group compared 676 samples from the Swedish Epidemiological Investigation of Rheumatoid Arthritis (EIRA) with 673 controls.
Both groups' searches led them to a region of chromosome 9 containing two genes relevant to chronic inflammation: TRAF1 (encoding tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 1) and C5 (encoding complement component 5).
http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/oct2007/niams-04.htm
Researchers in the United States and Sweden have identified a genetic region associated with increased risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a chronic and debilitating inflammatory disease of the joints that affects an estimated 2.1 million Americans. The U.S. arm of the study involved a long-time collaboration between intramural researchers of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) and other organizations. NIAMS is one of 27 institutes and centers at the National Institutes of Health. The results appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Using the relatively new genome-wide association approach — which makes it possible to analyze between 300,000 and 500,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs, or small differences in DNA that are distributed throughout a person’s genetic code) — researchers in both countries searched for genetic differences in blood samples from people with RA compared to controls. The U.S. group compared 908 samples from patients provided by the North American Rheumatoid Arthritis Consortium (NARAC) — a group of investigators working together to identify the genetic factors that contribute to RA — with those from 1,282 people without RA (controls). The Swedish group compared 676 samples from the Swedish Epidemiological Investigation of Rheumatoid Arthritis (EIRA) with 673 controls.
Both groups' searches led them to a region of chromosome 9 containing two genes relevant to chronic inflammation: TRAF1 (encoding tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 1) and C5 (encoding complement component 5).
http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/oct2007/niams-04.htm