Arthritis Gene Identified

Arthritis affects one in three Americans and is the leading cause of disability in people over the age of 15, according to the Arthritis Foundation. While doctors have been able to treat the disease and offer tips to avoid it, University of Missouri-Columbia researchers have recently identified genetic signs that indicate the early onset of arthritis. Researchers hope to identify arthritis as early as possible in an effort to reverse its progression.

There is no cure for arthritis, but researchers say that is because the disease cannot be diagnosed at a stage in which it is reversible. This new research points to 16 genes in cartilage that are involved with the onset of arthritis.

The implications of determining if a person will have arthritis are enormous: Lifestyle changes could be started before the disease appears, preventing the onset of the grinding of bone; physicians could pre-emptively prescribe pharmaceuticals known to slow cartilage degeneration; and researchers could develop new pharmaceuticals to interrupt the disease process.