New psoriatic arthritis-affiliated gene identified in new research

Scientists in the UK have been able to identify genetic variants that are specifically associated with psoriatic arthritis, following the largest ever study of the disease.

Led by the Arthritis Research UK Centre for Genetics and Genomics at the University of Manchester, an international consortium have located a gene on chromosome 5 that increases the risk of psoriatic arthritis, but not psoriasis.

This is a groundbreaking discovery that confirms the status of psoriatic arthritis as a disease in its own right, instead of a combination of psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Additionally, the study highlighted that CD8+ cells are likely to be the key drivers of inflammation in psoriatic arthritis, which could lead to a new understanding of how genetic changes act in immune cells to cause disease.

Professor Anne Barton, a rheumatologist and senior author on the study, said: "By identifying genes that predispose people to psoriatic arthritis but not psoriasis, we hope in the future to be able to test patients with psoriasis to find those at high risk of developing psoriatic arthritis."

Between one and two in every five people with psoriasis will develop psoriatic arthritis, usually within ten years of the skin condition being diagnosed.