New research has provided a never-before-seen view of the genetic activity that may be used to map the polygenic nature of common rheumatic diseases. Two recent studies have employed distinct approaches to identify the non-coding gene variants, digging deep into human genetic data to uncover the mechanism of rheumatic diseases…
A study has identified several common genetic pathways between Parkinson’s disease and autoimmune diseases. Specifically, researchers have used a genome-wide conjunctional analysis to identify 17 novel loci that overlap the conditions…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Parkinson’s disease and some autoimmune diseases may have genetic risk factors in common, raising the possibility that the immune system may influence Parkinson’s disease pathogenesis, new research suggests. The study, which analyzed data from genome-wide association studies, “showed a considerable genetic overlap between [Parkinson’s disease] and autoimmune diseases, in particular, type 1…
Every so often, a major scientific breakthrough profoundly alters the trajectory of scientific research. In the 1960s, microbiologists sparked the recombinant-DNA revolution with the discovery that bacteria have innate immune systems based on restriction enzymes. These enzymes bind and cut invading viral genomes at specific short sequences, and scientists rapidly repurposed them to cut and…
New studies examine why turning on or off switches in genes that control the genome can contribute to pathogenesis of such autoimmune diseases as systemic lupus erythematosus or rheumatoid arthritis
What do these studies tell us about disease mechanisms in lupus?