New Genes Found to Aid In Childhood Arthritis Treatment

According to Sciencedaily.com, a team of scientist from the University of Manchester, England, have found 14 new genes which may be important in treating childhood arthritis. Childhood arthritis, or Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, JIA, is unlike arthritis found in adults and has been researched very minimally.  Only 30% of children diagnosed with JIA go on to have arthritis later on in life.  Little is known about treating this disease, but these 14 genes opened the door for the treatment of JIA.

The study was the largest ever on JIA and done by taking DNA extracted from blood and saliva samples of 2,000 patients with JIA and comparing it with children without JIA.  It took two years to complete, but they found 14 new potential gene risk factors, which does not seem like much but it almost increased the amount of known factor, 3, significantly.  It is a huge breakthrough in this study because even though only 14 new potential genes were found, it still is almost 5 times more then we have ever know about this disease.  The new genes can help doctors figure out what is causing the condition, how it progresses through development, and future therapies and treatments for JIA.  Also they can use the specific genes to classify specific types of the arthritis, which can help a child get better treatment and care for the specific type of JIA he or she has.  Understanding, classifying, and finding new genetic markers will ultimately lead to the full treatment of this disease.  In addition more genetic research must be done in order to find more markers and more about how this disease works.

It is only a start to finding new JIA treatments, but with further genetic research, it is possible for scientist to come up with a way to ultimately diagnose, treat, make the lives better for these children, and help aid in controlling JIA as juveniles so it does not turn into adult forms of arthritis later on in life.  It is a great start to help out these poor children who suffer from this horrible disease and were forgotten about until recently.

The actual journal findings were posted in nature journal  http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ng.2614.html