Posted on September 4, 2007 in Latest News
A genetic risk factor that contributes to high risk of autoimmune inflammatory diseases – Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus Erythematosus has been found.
Both Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus are autoimmune diseases. Autoimmune diseases are those diseases in which the body’s immune system attacks a healthy tissue.
In the case of Rheumatoid Arthritis the body’s immune system attacks the lining of the joints and sometimes, even other organs. In Lupus, the body’s immune system attacks the internal organs, joints and skin.
These diseases, if not controlled immediately may cause significant disability over time.
Dr. Elaine Remmmers, Ph.D., of the Genetics and Genomics Branch of the Intramural Research Program at the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases and her 13 colleagues found out that a gene named STAT4 is linked with Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus.
The STAT4 gene plays a crucial role in regulation and activation of certain cells of our body’s immune system.
“It may be too early to predict the impact of identifying the STAT4 gene as a susceptibility locus for rheumatoid arthritis — whether the presence of the variant and others will serve as a predictor of disease, disease outcome or response to therapy,” says coauthor and NARAC principal investigator Peter K. Gregersen, M.D., of The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, part of the North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System, in Manhasset, N.Y.
“It also remains to be found whether the STAT4 pathway plays such a crucial role in RA and Lupus that new therapies targeting this pathway would be effective in these and perhaps other autoimmune diseases.”
The researchers also found a similar variant of the STAT4 gene was even more strongly linked with Lupus. Frequency data on the genetic profiles of the patients and controls suggest that individuals who carry two copies of the disease-risk variant form of the STAT4 gene have a 60% higher risk for RA and more than double the risk for Lupus compared with people who carry no copies of the variant form.
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