Those investigating the molecular genetic basis of osteoarthritis must believe that all the hard work is beginning to reap rewards, as yet another linkage scan shows several interesting chromosomal loci potentially harbouring osteoarthritis susceptibility. In the September issue of the Annals of Rheumatic Diseases, Greig et al¹ reported the results of a comprehensive genomewide linkage scan performed on 202 families that contain individuals with nodal osteoarthritis, recruited from Nottinghamshire, UK.¹ By using both a qualitative analysis (presence or absence of nodal osteoarthritis) and a quantitative analysis (severity of the disease), major hits were reported for chromosomes 3, 4, 8, 11 and 16. Intriguingly, the chromosome 3 and 16 hits overlap with osteoarthritis loci reported by other groups, implying that at least these two linkages are likely to be genuine.

CURRENT STATUS OF GENETIC SUSCEPTIBILITY OF OSTEOARTHRITIS

So how does this latest linkage data fit in with what we currently know about the molecular genetic basis of osteoarthritis susceptibility? The Greig et al report¹ is the fifth genomewide osteoarthritis linkage scan so far published, the others being conducted on affected-relative pairs collected in the UK,^2, …