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Review
. 2002;4 Suppl 3(Suppl 3):S31-6.
doi: 10.1186/ar566. Epub 2002 May 9.

Genes and environment in arthritis: can RA be prevented?

Lars Klareskog  1 , Johnny Lorentzen, Leonid Padyukov, Lars Alfredsson
Affiliations
Review

Genes and environment in arthritis: can RA be prevented?

Lars Klareskog et al. Arthritis Res. 2002.

Abstract

Understanding of how interactions between genes and environment contribute to the development of arthritis is a central issue in understanding the etiology of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), as well as for eventual subsequent efforts to prevent the disease. In this paper, we review current published data on genes and environment in RA as well as in certain induced animal models of disease, mainly those in which adjuvants only or adjuvants plus organ-specific autoantigens are used to induce arthritis. We refer to some new data on environmental and genetic factors of importance for RA generated from a large case-control study in Sweden (1200 patients, 1200 matched controls). We found an increased risk of seropositive but not of seronegative RA in smokers, and there are indications that this effect may be due to a gene-environment interaction involving MHC class II genes. We also found an increased risk of RA in individuals heavily exposed to mineral oils. This was of particular interest because mineral oils are strong inducers of arthritis in certain rodent strains and because polymorphisms in human genetic regions syntenic with genes predisposing for oil-induced arthritis in rats have now been shown to associate with RA in humans. Taken together, our data support the notion that concepts and data on gene-environment interactions in arthritis can now be taken from induced animal models of arthritis to generate new etiological hypotheses for RA.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Research strategy for a combined effort in rodents (rats) and in man to define gene–environment interactions of relevance for the onset and course of arthritis
Figure 2
Figure 2
Hypothetical picture of events contributing to development of arthritis and to the course of the disease.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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