New genetic markers found for rheumatoid arthritis could aid development of new treatments

An international collaboration has led to the discovery of 42 new genetic markers associated with rheumatoid arthritis, potentially opening doors to new treatments, says a study published in Nature.

Thought to be the largest international study to date on rheumatoid arthritis, the research team used data from 38 institutions. Of the100,000 participants, 29,880 had rheumatoid arthritis.

DNA variations were found at 42 regions of the genome that are associated with rheumatoid arthritis.

Added to the 61 that were previously known, there are now more than 100 genetic risk markers for rheumatoid arthritis.

“What’s exciting about this study is that in addition to dramatically increasing our knowledge of genetic susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis, for the first time we have found some similarities between rheumatoid arthritis and some cancers affecting the blood,” says Prof Jane Worthington, director of the Centre for Genetics and Genomics.

Because some of these cancers already have approved, effective therapies, the findings “open the door to possible evaluation of the drugs for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.”