No one knows exactly why psoriatic arthritis (PsA) occurs, but doctors suspect that a combination of factors may lead to its development. One of the most intriguing factors is a person's genetic makeup.
A little over a decade ago, a team of researchers linked the first genetic marker of psoriasis. Several other genes, which seem to be connected to both psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, have been discovered since then. As researchers continue to investigate these links and study the genetic patterns involved in these diseases, they hope that eventually they will find specific treatments that will be able to disarm the role of genes in psoriasis and in the debilitating joint disease, psoriatic arthritis. Understanding the role of these genes may also prove useful in designing diagnostic methods to identify the diseases at the earliest possible stages.
In working toward that goal, it is important to know whether these diseases appear in a patient's family history so that treatment may be started early and the progressive damage resulting from the disease may be halted. Even if the signs of psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis have not yet presented, their presence in a family member may signal a person's predisposition toward developing the disease.
Copyright 2009 NBC Health
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