UK's biggest-ever study of lupus genes
(PhysOrg.com) -- The UK's biggest-ever study to discover the genes that cause the incurable autoimmune disease, lupus, is set to considerably advance understanding of the disease and could result in a genetic test predicting who is most likely to develop the condition.
Researchers at King’s are taking advantage of the latest advances in gene technology to analyse DNA samples from 5,000 people with lupus from all over the UK, Europe and Canada, in order to identify the full set of genes that predispose them to getting the condition.
They are being funded by a grant of £1.7million from medical research charity Arthritis Research UK.
Lupus, also known as systemic lupus erythematosus or SLE, is a serious inflammatory disease that affects the skin, joints and internal organs, and in severe cases can be fatal. There is no cure and people with the condition may have to take medication for the rest of their lives. However, current drugs are not particularly effective and many sufferers have a poor quality of life.
As well as finding out how many genes contribute to the development of lupus, the team at King’s also wants to establish whether genes that cause the condition also influence the severity or type of lupus and whether particular organs of the body such as the heart or kidneys are likely to be involved. In the future a genetic test could become available help speed up the diagnosis of lupus in patients with suspected auto-immune, inflammatory forms of arthritis.
In the short term the main aim is to discover many more genes that cause the disease. The team will then go on to determine how these genes increase the risk of developing lupus and whether this knowledge can be used to develop new therapies
Principal investigator Tim Vyse, from the Division of Immunology, Infection and Inflammatory Diseases at King’s, said: 'There is a significant risk to the development of lupus; for example the brother or sister of an affected person is over 29 times more likely to develop it than the rest of the population. Our group, among others, has already identified some of the genes implicated.
'However, we have only identified the ‘tip of the lupus genetic iceberg,’ as the studies conducted so far have not been large enough. Our study is more than twice as big as all the other studies combined, so we are hoping that we will be able come up with some really useful results in order to identify the ‘how and why’ of lupus.
'We also hope to find out the similarities between lupus and conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease, and multiple sclerosis for example.'
The team expects to produce the first set of research papers of early results from the genome screen later this year.
Professor Alan Silman, medical director of Arthritis Research UK, said the charity had high hopes of Professor Vyse’s genetic research: 'The drugs for lupus are not as effective as we would like, and we desperately need new treatments. Discovering how many genes contribute to disease development is crucial so that we can work to produce new therapies.
'Because lupus mimics so many other forms of inflammatory arthritis, there are often long delays in diagnosing the condition, and in the shorter-term tracking down the genes responsible could also help speed up this process.'
Professor Vyse’s research has been made possible by the generosity of a private donor.
Provided by King's College London
