A team of researchers has discovered a genetic variation that doubles the risk for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The variation, referred to as a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP, pronounced “snip”), is present in about 28 percent of individuals with rheumatoid arthritis and 17 percent of the general population. This discovery resulted from a collaboration between scientists from the North American Rheumatoid Arthritis Consortium (NARAC), led by Peter K. Gregersen, MD, of the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Research Institute in Manhasset, NY, Celera Diagnostics and Genomics Collaborative, Inc. The team’s findings are being published in the August 2004 issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics.
