Arthritis Foundation Nebraska Chapter Funds Groundbreaking Research to Identify Genetic Factors Involved in Rheumatoid Arthritis

U.S. Newswire › October 01, 2004

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OMAHA, Neb., Oct. 1 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Arthritis Foundation Nebraska Chapter today presented the North American Rheumatoid Arthritis Consortium (NARAC) with a $100,000 gift to help fund the Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) Genome Project. The RA Genome Project aims to define all of the significant genetic factors that are involved in RA, an often-debilitating autoimmune disease that affects 2.1 million Americans.

By collecting and studying more than 1,000 sibling pairs with RA, a team of researchers from NARAC discovered a genetic variation that doubles the risk for RA. The variation is present in approximately 28 percent of individuals with RA and 17 percent of the general population. This discovery is a major breakthrough in determining the susceptibility of certain populations to particular diseases.

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Arthritis Foundation Nebraska Chapter Funds Groundbreaking Research to Identify Genetic Factors Involved in Rheumatoid Arthritis

"We are all tremendously excited because the first new gene for RA was just discovered by the NARAC investigators earlier this ...

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