Researchers Discover Another Genetic Link to Osteoarthritis
According to ScienceDaily, ongoing research in the U.K. has unearthed another genetic link, the third so far, in the study of osteoarthritis, the painful and debilitating disease that can strike more than 40 percent of people age 70 and older.
What Does the Study Show?
The recent article explains how researchers have mapped a new gene, MCF2L, while using data from the 1000 Genomes Project to study the causes of osteoarthritis. The study, conducted by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and funded by Arthritis Research UK, compared the genomes of 3,177 people suffering from osteoarthritis, with 4,894 who are not, and looked at over 600,000 variants.
By incorporating data from the 1000 Genomes Project, researchers were able to scan for 7.2 million variants and discovered the association with MCF2L with no new sequencing needed. According to Dr. Eleftheria Zeggini, the author of the study, “By using the 1000 Genomes Project data to add value to our original genome-wide association scan for osteoarthritis, we have uncovered a disease-associated gene that had previously remained hidden. We were able to analyse our results in greater detail and zoom in on variants that we hadn’t been able to identify before. We hope that this approach and our findings will help to improve our biological understanding of this very painful disease.”
Osteoarthritis is a Complex Disease That is Difficult to Treat
Arthritis Research UK has been hard at work trying to identify the causes of osteoarthritis, conducting studies all across Europe to attempt to identify genetic markers that could lead to development of treatments for this disease. Since MCF2L was discovered, they have been working with tens of thousands of patients to gain insight in order to develop effective treatments.
Alan Silman, Medical Director of Arthritis Research UK, says, “Osteoarthritis is a complex disease with many genetic causes. Yet it has proved very difficult to find the genes involved and help us to identify potential areas of treatment. We are delighted that researchers at the Sanger Institute have been able to identify a new gene associated with this painful condition and offer new lines of research for possible treatments. We are also excited that employing the technique of using the 1000 Genomes Project data to investigate genetic associations in far greater depth could reveal even greater insights into this debilitating disease.”
Although the research is promising, treatments and a possible cure are still a long way off. In the meantime, many hip osteoarthritis sufferers find relief by undergoing hip replacement surgery, a successful solution to the ailment if the surgery is performed with a reliable hip replacement implant. Patients who are considering this option should speak to their physician to ensure that a hip implant that best suits their anatomy and the severity of their condition is used, in order to receive the best possible outcome.
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