European and American scientists managed to define, in detail, the genetic variants directly involved in the development of diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.
The results of the research that are published in the magazine "Nature Genetics", involve a milestone in the knowledge of the genetic bases of these pathologies, and open possibilities in the development of new therapeutic tools in these autoimmune diseases with greater impact on healthworld.
To define the variants, scientists used mapping genomic studies.In a statement, the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), in Spain, announced the results of this study in which it participates.
Javier Martín, a researcher at the Institute of Parasitology and Biomedicine in Granada, stressed that thanks to large -scale genomic studies, in recent years there has been advance in the identification of the genetic causes of autoimmune diseases, such as diabetes orRheumatoid arthritis.
However, he said, it is difficult to define precisely what are the genetic variants that cause these diseases.
International study, researchers from five European countries and the United States have participated, and data from 11,745 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, nine thousand 334 of diabetes and 26 thousand 881 controls have been used.
The use of novel DNA sequencing techniques and bioinformatic tools, has allowed identifying genes involved in each of the diseases.
"Thanks to the work we now publish, we have accurately defined these variants," concluded Javier Martín, also from CSIC.