Three Times More Women Than Men Have Rheumatoid Arthritis

New treatments for people with rheumatoid arthritis are on the horizon following research that has added 14 new genes to the 32 already known to lead to the condition.

While environmental and lifestyles factors have a role in the onset of the disease, genetic make-up has a strong part to play and the research team from the University of Manchester believes it has now discovered the vast majority of disease-causing genes for the condition.

DNA samples from over 27,000 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and healthy controls were used in the study published in Nature Genetics, bringing new treatments a step closer and providing clues as to why more women than men have the condition, which affects over 400,000 people in the UK.

Genes specific to the female X-chromosome (which explains why three times more women than men present with the disease) have been identified.
“This work will have a great impact on the clinical treatment of arthritis; we have already found three genes that are targets for drugs, leaving a further 43 genes with the potential for drug development, helping the third of patients who fail to respond well to current medications,” says study lead Dr Stephen Eyre. “Although patients who first present at clinic have similar symptoms, it is likely that their route to developing disease has involved a varied path. The genetic findings can help divide patients into smaller groups with more similar types of rheumatoid arthritis and assist in the allocation of therapies and disease management.”