Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group New genes linked to AS

hey there david...
slowly recouping over here. i thought i was clear this year of my dreadful asthma flareup like last year..alas no such luck. had a flare up a week or so ago. had me on my knees as i tried to keep alert trying 2 find my inhaler. too much stuff in the air lately. always seem to pick it up at the soccer fields. build up and ended up getting a xopenex [spelling?] breathing trtmt and zpac. ear infection finally settled down today. whew.

that is interesting. i am hlab27+ and nonspecific colitis. they had me on reglan in hopes of helping me out. no dice. would have been nice since it was the least expensive of all my meds. going back to the GI doc. i'm tired of waking up gasping for air. tired of the asthma flareups. those frighten me. my lungs are a mess.

art printed out the article. looks like one of the studies was in texas. see what he says about it. gianna's JRA has been settled down. had a sprain that swelled up badly. worse than expected. think partly due to the JRA but she's a scrapper and was back on the field at the end of the week.

k...rambled enough..hope you are doing well..how is your son?
your pal ..bugs

I just saw the article and came here to post it. Hope everyone is well.

Hugs
Tammy

Bugs,

Asthma, they now do a full lung function test over here as it's a real problem the grass and tree pollen etc.... and Will's test came out negative for it ( a pretty horrid test lots of salt water in aerosol etc ) so after 8 years of being told Asthma, he's clear for it ....

So I got him on antibiotics, and he's doing pretty well!

I've had some funnies on scans interstitial stuff, funny lung scarring ( from the unmanaged colitis days).

Dave

I'm a simple man; what does this study mean for us? Just knowing the genes won't help until they can figure out how to manipulate those genes, right? Or to eliminate them? Am I missing something or is a cure right around the corner?

They have gotten finally that it's not just B27,

the "new" genes suggest problems with identifying and dealing with certain infections.
( John will like that )


One of these genes is also associated with Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Psoriasis

There are already new "biological" drugs aimed at IL-23R in development under test trials for Psoriasis and have been proposed for Chron's.

This should shorten the development cycle for those of us not on biological s or have had problems or no response to the current TNF alpha's.

In short this has turned alot on it's head,

Will there be a simple test for AS I do not think so on this recent news. There are variations in the gene like B27 which are protective against IBD and AS.

Dave

Oh yeh, Dave in my PM I forgot to mention, I have Psoriasis, which is being controlled by diet and has been for years. I have had 5 major flairs in my life time, now only small hardly noticable patches.

Hugs

Gerri

You know you're not missing a thing. My reaction is similar to yours. Academically this is very interesting and I'm sure it will help in diagnosis for the many people undiagnosed or told "its all in your head."

It may focus the future efforts at possible cures. I suspect in the decade to come it wonn't mean much as for cures for us, but its a sign that money is being spent and some good research is being done.

Steve,

I think it's bigger than academic hyperbola

I've seen alot of dead ends in this for along time and I do n't normally bother about "new gene discovered" as it's been a bit futile, but I'm feeling abit more upbeat for number of reasons.

First off although B27 is not out of the picture at all, it does open up AS alot more and draws direct lines to Psoriasis and IBD. Progress in Psoriasis and IBD is coming along nicely, as IL-23R was implicated a few years back so drugs are coming.


quote from: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/24...ing_Spondylitis
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.... is a protein that is created by the HLA-B27 gene that takes fragments of pathogens and displays them on the outside of immune cells; then the fragments trigger the immune system to fight against the pathogen.

ARTS1 is involved in breaking up the pathogen into 'bite-size chunks' that can be displayed by HLA-B27.
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Il-23R

Already linked to Psoriasis and IBD, monoclonal antibody therapy is in develeopment and sofar trials have been good.

Concerns because tumours have been linked to Il-23 but this just may be concern. 4% advrse reactions on one trial.

Same drug class Being proposed for Chron's.....

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NOD Genes

Strongly Associated with IBD:

one of these was linked with Sacral Illitis a few years ago......

NOD1 and 2 are closely associated to IBD,

NOD1 detects and starts a response to gram negative bugs ( do n't let John see this )

NOD2 detects and starts a response to gram negative and gram positive bugs

I got the impression that IL-23R in IBD may need a NOD IBD gene, I'll check that out.

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The WOrld of IBD seems to ahve changed as well. A few years ago, it was all a bit hairy fairy seeing the gastro's ......"well it's like asthma", or "that's impossible" .......

Now it seems that IBD consists of groups and subsets of similar conditions with subtle genetic variations. I think that is a very big break through.

Dave

Thanks for the reply, Steve, just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something obvious. Off to a hot bath now, goodnight.

Hi,
Thanks for posting this...this is very good news.

How long will it take before rheumatologists everywhere become aware of this new find? Are rheumatologists being notified?

Thanks,
James.