Research found genetic variation associated with psoriatic arthritis

11 February, 2015

A research team at the University of Manchester, UK, has identified the genetic variants associated with the development of psoriatic arthritis. The findings of this study were published in the February edition of Nature Communications journal.

Summary of this research: Psoriatic arthritis is characterized by inflammation of the joints leading to joint and tendon stiffness. Inappropriate medical treatment results in joint tissue damage and consequential joint deformity. A majority of the patients with psoriatic arthritis also develop psoriasis symptoms. Typically (not certainly), the onset of psoriasis skin disorder is before the arthritis. However, about 1/3 of psoriasis patients will develop psoriatic arthritis. This three-year study was a tremendous breakthrough in determining the genetic variants of psoriatic arthritis. These findings can be applied to assess the risk of psoriatic arthritis in psoriasis patients.

The leading investigator of this research Dr. John Bowes indicated that the purpose of this research was to reveal the genetic variation associated with psoriatic arthritis. The findings identified key insights into the genetics that could begin to explain fundamental differences between psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. It was found that CD8+cel was the primary precursor to inflammation in psoriatic arthritis. This will help the researchers focus on studying the genetic variance of diseases caused by immunocytes. This study also discovered that psoriasis patients with HLA-B27 have considerably increased risk of developing psoriatic arthritis.

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