Is One Susceptible to Osteoarthritis?

Osteoarthritis, although the most common chronic musculoskeletal disorder, does not have enough information researched.

  

Susceptibility has been researched by the Laboratory for Bone and Joint Diseases in Japan. Osteoarthritis is a polygenic disease with a genetic component in which cartilage is progressively lost. Approximately fifty million people across the world are suffering from this disease. It causes pain and loss of joint function and there is no treatment. Among the genes found were ASPN, GDF5, and DWVA. Since I am interested in getting into Physical Therapy I am very intrigued with topic of osteoarthritis and the way the body can function after disease stricken. I believe finding the reason for osteoarthritis and being able to prevent it or even warn individuals would be wonderful for people struggling with the painful and at times debilitating disease.

http://www.nature.com/jhg/journal/v55/n2/full/jhg2009137a.html

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21400473

Scientist Discover Gene Essential for Sensing Joint Position

Close your eyes... now touch your nose. This is a simple task that can be easily impaired. Proprioception is the detection of body position, a concept that does not cross the minds of many people, until it becomes faulty. Scientist at The Scripps Research Institute have discovered a gene and a type of nerve which is important to detect leg-joint angles. The team leader describes the finding as "cells which resemble human nerve cells that innervate joints".  The catch? They have only been located in the fruit fly! However; should this gene be found in humans it could lead to a greater understanding, as well as treatments, for those who suffer with faulty proprioception. A questions scientists have been asking themselves is how a neuron can specialize in sensing just one type of "membrane-distorting stimulus" -like an angle of a limb joint, and exclude other stimuli, like impact pressures.
When conducting this study scientist zeroed in on flies which struggled to walk and found a similar gene mutation in all of the flies. Called "stumble", it is the absence of the gene (stumble) which leads to the defective walking. Scientists are now working on learning more about stumble and looking to see if the human version of stumble works in a similar manner. The research team from The Scripps Research Institute was even able to restore normal walking ability to the flies with mutated genes!
Published in Science Daily

For additional knowledge about propriception the International Encyclopedia of Rehabilitation has great information

Those Aching Joints Could be in your Genes

An article in Science Daily, suggests that a recent study can prove that the causes and mechanisms of pain can be linked to genetics. New research from Professor Livshits of Tel Aviv University's  department of anatomy at the Sackler faculty of medicine, shows that genetics are a major contributing factor to joint pain.  Professor Livshits studied a twin population of 2,500 people who were identical and non identical female twins.  He tested each person for potential risk factors such as smoking and vertebral disc degeneration.  Different tests were used to collect data such as MRI's of the spine, assessments of fat and bone mass, and blood samples fro DNA extraction.  Non identical twins were three times more likely to experience bad pain if there twin had.  Considering that non identical twins only share half of their DNA this was an interesting result.  In identical twins the individual was six times more likely to experience joint disease

[caption id="attachment_4198" align="alignright" width="250" caption="Through research back pain maybe genetically linked. "][/caption]

if their twin also experienced it.  Lower back pain was always associated with degeneration of vertebral discs but researchers have shown that both could occur independently.  There are different genetic factors that independently cause back pain not to mention that age plays a major role as well.  There needs to be more research on back pain and a more comprehensive study of the genome search for who is affected and non affected.  Back and joint pain plagues the world so finding out more information to see if its linked genetically can be extremely useful.

 

Genetics can shed light on the future of your ailments then the majority of people can alter their lifestyles to handle their predisposition to expressing the disease.  There needs to be a greater extent to this kind of research so we can provide definite solutions.