A team of scientists from The University of Manchester have now discovered 14 new genes which could have important consequences for future treatment of childhood arthritis. This could be a major step forward for something which has been a growing issue. Arthritis is a condition that we generally associate with old age, but we are seeing an increasing number of cases in children and young people.
The scientists, who are from the University’s Arthritis Research UK Epidemiology Unit, published their work in Nature Genetics. The study looked at DNA which had been extracted from blood and saliva samples of 2,000 children with childhood arthritis and compared these to healthy young people and children.
The study was able to bring together an international group of scientists from and is the largest investigation into the genetics of childhood arthritis that has so far been undertaken. The success of the study was mainly due to it being an international effort with collaborators with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Wake Forest School of Medicine and Emory University School of Medicine.
Childhood arthritis now affects an alarming one in 1,000 children across the UK. It is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental risk factors, however until recently not very much was known about the genes that are important in developing this disease. Only three had been identified.
The study could help to predict which children might need specific treatment earlier and allow medical professionals to better control their pain management, quality of life and long-term treatment of arthritis. Currently around 30 per cent of those children who suffer with the disease continue to deal with the problems of arthritis in adulthood.
Comments are closed.