A large international study has found that genetics plays a significant role in filling in the cause of suffering from gout rather than that of the sufferer’s lifestyle choices.
The genome wide study was based on the genetic data from 2.6 m people which were studied under the guidance of University of Otago researchers and published in Nature Genetics.
Amalgamated DNA data sets from the world over were analysed by researchers. Most of the data came from customers of 23andMe, Inc., a direct-to-consumer genetics and preventative health company, who agreed to participate in research.
Inherited genetics, they found, is partly responsible for why some people get gout and most people don’t.
“Gout is a genetic condition, and it’s not the fault of the sufferer, so think about that myth that gout is due to lifestyle or diet.”
“This widespread myth causes shame in people with gout, delaying some people suffering to silence and not going to see the doctor to get a preventive drug, which lowers urate in the blood and will prevent their pain.”
“Both genetic and dietary factors, such as eating red meat, can trigger gout attacks, but the underlying culprits are high urate levels, crystals in the joints, and an immune system that’s ready to ‘attack’ the crystals.”
The research unveiled a number of immune genes and immune pathways that can be developed as new targets and approaches for preventing gout attacks.
He hopes that, in time, better, more accessible treatments will become available with the new targets they identified.
Another potential option is repurposing of a drug already in use for many other immune related disorders including rheumatoid arthritis, tocilizumab which blocks a receptor for an immune signaler, interleukin-6, which the research determined was a new gene for gout.
Information about gout:
The type of gout causing the attacks is caused by severe inflammation in the joints as a reaction to crystals of urate. These crystals are formed in the joints when urate levels in the body are high.
Dietary factors have a very small role in elevated urate levels, but dietary factors can be a gout trigger in people who have urate crystals in their joints. Gout can be treated with drugs (such as allopurinol which lowers the urate in the blood and prevents urate crystal forming in the joints, or those already in the joints) and can be long lasting disease.
Reference:
University of Otago. Study finds genetics, not lifestyle, is a major cause of goutÂ
