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Review
. 2022 Jul 23;23(15):8140.
doi: 10.3390/ijms23158140.

Interplay of Environmental, Individual and Genetic Factors in Rheumatoid Arthritis Provocation

Marina Arleevskaya  1   2 , Elena Takha  1 , Sergey Petrov  1   3 , Gevorg Kazarian  1 , Yves Renaudineau  4 , Wesley Brooks  5 , Regina Larionova  1 , Marina Korovina  1   2 , Anna Valeeva  1 , Eduard Shuralev  1   3 , Malik Mukminov  1   3 , Olga Kravtsova  2 , Andrey Novikov  6
Affiliations
Review

Interplay of Environmental, Individual and Genetic Factors in Rheumatoid Arthritis Provocation

Marina Arleevskaya et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

In this review, we explore systemization of knowledge about the triggering effects of non-genetic factors in pathogenic mechanisms that contribute to the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Possible mechanisms involving environmental and individual factors in RA pathogenesis were analyzed, namely, infections, mental stress, sleep deprivation ecology, age, perinatal and gender factors, eating habits, obesity and smoking. The non-genetic factors modulate basic processes in the body with the impact of these factors being non-specific, but these common challenges may be decisive for advancement of the disease in the predisposed body at risk for RA. The provocation of this particular disease is associated with the presence of congenital loci minoris resistentia. The more frequent non-genetic factors form tangles of interdependent relationships and, thereby, several interdependent external factors hit one vulnerable basic process at once, either provoking or reinforcing each other. Understanding the specific mechanisms by which environmental and individual factors impact an individual under RA risk in the preclinical stages can contribute to early disease diagnosis and, if the factor is modifiable, might be useful for the prevention or delay of its development.

Keywords: environmental factors; gender; infection; mental stress; perinatal factors; rheumatoid arthritis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Results of PubMed publications searching with keywords (A) “RheumatoidArthritis and risk factors” (10,120 results in 1969–2022), (B) “Rheumatoid arthritis andenvironment” (2933 results in 1946–2022).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Search results in the GWAS Catalog: SNPs of 14 genes are associated with both RA and distress. The numbers of SNPs associated both with RA and distress are circled in red.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Possible mechanisms of implementation of triggering role of ecotoxicants in RA. OS*—oxidative stress.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Mosaic of weak links of the body at RA risk.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Network of challenging non-genetic factors.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Impact of non-genetic factors on weak links of the body under RA risk.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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