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A UK consortium is to undertake a genome-wide association study to identify genes that are associated with osteoarthritis (see press release). The 2-year arcOGEN project involves eight UK centres and has received £2.2 million in funding from the Arthritis Research Campaign (arc).

According to arc, osteoarthritis affects about 8 million people in the UK making it the most common joint disease in the UK. Potentially it can affect any joint, causing severe pain and stiffness as the cartilage at the ends of bones wears away, and no treatments are currently available. Osteoarthritis of the knee and hip is the main cause of mobility problems in the elderly, with joint replacement the only option for many as the disease progresses.

The disease often runs in families. This indicates that it is likely to have a considerable genetic component, although lifestyle factors such as obesity are also known to have a role. It appears likely that several (possibly many) genes act together to increase a person's susceptibility, with each individual gene having a relatively small effect. In order to identify gene variants that predispose to the disease, this large study will scan the genomes of 8000 affected individuals, comparing the results with existing data from 6000 healthy volunteers.

The results of the study will be made freely available and are expected to provide a resource that will help identify many of the biological pathways that are involved disease development and progression. As such, the results are likely to be of considerable interest to pharmaceutical companies who could use the data to develop potential therapeutics. Ultimately, it might lead to new drugs to either prevent disease onset or delay its progression. arc also expresses the hope that the study will lead to additional breakthroughs such as genetic tests to predict who is likely to develop osteoarthritis and how severely they will be affected - the intention being that this information is used to offer treatment or life-style advice on how to reduce the risk.