Genetic study reveals possible new routes to treating osteoarthritis

In the largest genetic study of osteoarthritis to date, scientists have uncovered 52 new genetic changes linked to the disease, which doubles the number of genetic regions associated with the disabling condition. Scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, GSK, and their collaborators analyzed the genomes of over 77,000 people with osteoarthritis. Their findings, published today in Nature Genetics, revealed new genes and biological pathways linked to osteoarthritis, which could help identify starting points for new medicines. Researchers also highlighted opportunities for existing medicines to be evaluated in osteoarthritis. Almost ten million people in the UK suffer from osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease in which a person's joints become damaged, stop moving freely and become painful. There is no disease-modifying treatment for osteoarthritis. The disease is managed with pain relief medications and often culminates in joint replacement surgery, which has variable outcomes.