Researchers believe they have found the answer to whether a handful of common inflammatory diseases that occur together and in families and individuals are due to environmental risk factors or shared genes.
In a global study led by the Queensland University of Technology and Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel, Germany and involving 50 different research centres, the researchers say they have “conclusively demonstrated” that genetics are responsible in most cases.
The results have been published in the journal Nature Genetics, and identify hundreds of genes that cause ankylosing spondylitis, Crohn’s Disease and ulcerative colitis, psoriasis, and primary sclerosing cholangitis.
Co-senior author Professor Matthew Brown, from QUT’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, said the study paved the way for new treatments for these often difficult to manage diseases and finally brought the answer to a much asked question.
“These diseases affect about three per cent of the world’s population, and commonly occur together in families and in individuals,” he said.
“The big question has been whether this is due to shared environmental risk factors, or due to shared genes and now we believe we have the answer. The research has conclusively demonstrated these conditions occur together mostly because they share similar genetic backgrounds.”
Professor Brown said the researchers had studied almost 86,000 subjects from 26 countries, and identified 244 genetic variants which control whether or not people develop these conditions, a large proportion of which were “completely new findings”.