Your genes – there's some evidence that rheumatoid arthritis can run in families, although the risk of inheriting it is thought to be low as genes are only thought to play a small role in the condition. Those with a first-degree family member (parent, sibling, etc) diagnosed with RA are at roughly four times greater risk of developing RA themselves as compared to the general population. While this is a notable increase in risk, it’s not enough to conclusively state that RA is hereditary. There are many patients who develop RA without any close relatives being affected.
Epigenetics is the study of changes in organisms caused by modification of gene expression rather than alteration of the genetic code itself.
Genes can predispose you to develop a condition but they don't predetermine that you will develop a condition. There are very few genetic diseases that run in families, like muscular dystrophy, and if you have this gene then it's likely you will develop Multiple Sclerosis (MS) but Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is not one of these 'few genes' which means, there s a 'trigger'.
Genes can predispose you to develop a condition but they don't predetermine that you will develop a condition. There are very few genetic diseases that run in families, like muscular dystrophy, and if you have this gene then it's likely you will develop Multiple Sclerosis (MS) but Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is not one of these 'few genes' which means, there s a 'trigger'.
Epigenetics
stress
trauma genetic infection autoimmune |
Ginamarie Russo was diagnosed with juvenile RA (now called juvenile idiopathic arthritis) when she was 12. Her identical twin, Annamarie was diagnosed 18 years later, at age 30. Read the full story
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Differential Diagnosis
Lab tests:
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Initial signs/sxms of JRA
Bony changes
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Other organs involved
Cardiopulmonary impact with JRA
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systemic
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polyarticular
>5 joints onset 1-3 years, or in puberty knee, ankle, wrist, cervical spine, TMJ 40-50% post severe arthritis females> males |
Pauciarticular JRA
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+RF (polyarticular)
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Signs of periarticular soft tissue changes:
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Ghost in Your Genes
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Vitamins A and C Could Erase Epigenetic Marks on DNA
Removing methyl tags is crucial for a cell to achieve pluripotency, thereby establishing a clean slate for the cell to be reprogrammed. DNA methylation is one of the most well-known epigenetic marks, defined as the addition of a methyl group to DNA in order to form 5-methylcytosine (5-mC). Read More: https://www.whatisepigenetics.com/vitamins-a-and-c-could-e…/
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The cost of famine
Women who experienced famine while in the womb had paternal granddaughters who died earlier.
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Any epigenetic side-effect caused by a drug may persist after the drug is discontinued. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306987709002916
The codon-54 mutation and low producing promoter polymorphisms of the MBL gene are associated with RA. A low serum level of MBL predisposes to the development of RA and is a risk factor for severe disease in southern Chinese.
Mannose-binding lectin (MBL) is a key element of the innate immunity, (1), (2), Serum MBL levels are greatly affected by the polymorphisms of the MBL gene. In particular, codon 54 mutation of the MBL gene results in a significant reduction of serum MBL.
codon-54 mutation (1), (2), (3),
Mannose-binding lectin (MBL) is a key element of the innate immunity, (1), (2), Serum MBL levels are greatly affected by the polymorphisms of the MBL gene. In particular, codon 54 mutation of the MBL gene results in a significant reduction of serum MBL.
codon-54 mutation (1), (2), (3),
A Dynamic Mark in Health, Disease and Inheritance.
In this review, we discuss the major classes of epigenetic drugs ... A unit of chromatin, known as a nucleosome, is composed of 146 base pairs ... cytoplasm and are able to remove acetyl groups from proteins other .....Use of Epigenetic Drugs in Disease: An Overview - NCBI https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4251063/ by S Heerboth - 2014 - Cited by 148 - Related articles May 27, 2014 -
In this review, we discuss the major classes of epigenetic drugs ... A unit of chromatin, known as a nucleosome, is composed of 146 base pairs ... cytoplasm and are able to remove acetyl groups from proteins other .....Use of Epigenetic Drugs in Disease: An Overview - NCBI https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4251063/ by S Heerboth - 2014 - Cited by 148 - Related articles May 27, 2014 -
The nutrients we extract from food enter metabolic pathways where they are manipulated, modified, and molded into molecules the body can use. One such pathway is responsible for making methyl groups - important epigenetic tags that silence genes. Take a detailed look at the nutrients that affect our epigenome and the foods they come from. |
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Depression, illness perception and coping in rheumatoid arthritis H Murphy, C Dickens, F Creed, R Bernstein - Journal of psychosomatic …, 1999 - Elsevier Depressed patients were more disabled than the nondepressed, had a more negative view of their illness, and used more negative coping strategies. There was no association between depression and childhood adversity. |
Dr. Gabor Mate states, "In autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, if you look into their lives, what you notice about them is they have great difficulty expressing their emotions, because in childhood they were forbidden from doing so, so they compensated by suppressing their feelings and it's very difficult for them to say no and they'll keep saying yes and they'll keep doing things even though they're very stressed by it, and then you end up with the body, in the form of illness, saying no because they didn't.
We can't change the way our genes behave and we can't change our actual genes but we can change their what the way they behave and that's epigenetics they're turning on and turning off and dialing up and dialing down of what our genes do of what they make but the the great thing about gut bacteria is that we can influence them more directly and then they go on to influence our bodies and that's through epigenetics and through our genomes altering the way our genomes behave as
well
well
Any epigenetic side-effect caused by a drug may persist after the drug is discontinued. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306987709002916
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Nicotine contributes to induction of inflammation, in a study published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, Volume 100, November 2016, researchers say that nicotine activates specific white blood cells called neutrophils to release molecules resulting in increased inflammation (1)
Smoking puts you at greater risk for many health conditions, with RA being one. Smoking cigarettes can have serious adverse effects on the ability of your immune system to function properly. The damage that inhaling all of these carcinogens does to the body, combined with other genetic factors, could increase your risk of developing RA. Smoking is the most strongly associated risk factor when it comes to the onset of RA in patients. A history of smoking is said to increase the risk of developing RA by 2.4%(1). The increased risk associated with smoking is most strongly associated with seropositive RA patients (those whose blood tests are positive for anti-CCP and rheumatoid factor). (1), (2) F.A. Koopman, et al.EBioMedicine. 2016, concluded that "As expected, individuals at risk of developing arthritis (AR) tended to be younger than RA patients. Significantly more ‘ever smoker's’ and ‘smoking pack-years’ were identified in individuals at risk of developing arthritis (AR) subjects and RA patients compared to healthy subjects (HS)" (1). |
While having a specific history of RA in your family can increase the chances of your own development of the disease, this does not always guarantee that you will develop this type of inflammation. The degree of risk as it relates to genes, that are passed down from one generation to the next, can vary quite greatly when it comes to determining what role family history plays in developing the disease. What does this mean in easy-to-understand terms?
Put simply, people who possess a genetic background of RA may never develop this disease and thus require treatment. Conversely, some people develop RA without any known family history, causing them to wonder where all of the pain and stiffness is coming from and, perhaps more importantly, how to treat it as quickly and effectively as possible. Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA), also commonly referred to as juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), is a good example of how genetics can play a role in the development of a disease such as this. Those from European ancestry are most at risk of inflammation associated with JRA or JIA, while African Americans also tend to test positive for rheumatoid factor more often than some of the other racial groups. Rheumatoid factor is an antibody which, in higher levels, can indicate that someone is at a higher risk of the development of a rheumatoid nodule or other rheumatoid disease which results in joint damage. It has also been determined that there isn’t one individual gene that causes the joint pain and inflammation associated with RA. Rather, researchers feel that there is a combination of genes interacting with each other that potentially lead to development of the disease. This genetic combination can cause the development of RA early on in life, as in the case of JRA, as opposed to some of the potential environmental causes that may lead to its development as a person advances in years. Another way that genetics may potentially play a role in the potential development of RA is when a person has another genetic condition that weakens his or her immune system. If you have been genetically predisposed to conditions like Epstein-barr virus or Sjogren’s syndrome for instance, you could be more susceptible to viral or bacterial infections. Furthermore, it’s possible that this susceptibility could trigger the development of other autoimmune diseases such as RA. Thus, treatment of those conditions can potentially help reduce one’s risk of RA. It does this by making your immune system stronger and more capable of preventing other autoimmune diseases. If there’s a question about whether genetics is an issue for you, a blood test may help provide the answer. |
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