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Genetics of rheumatoid arthritis in Asia—present and future

Nature Reviews Rheumatology volume 11, pages 375–379 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have uncovered numerous susceptibility genes for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in patients of European, Asian and other ethnic ancestries. Although previous transethnic GWAS meta-analyses enabled the identification of several novel loci, the genetic heterogeneity observed in the PADI4 and PTPN22 genes suggests that ethnic variation should be considered. In addition, the effects of genetic polymorphisms on gene expression profiles are important when assessing the association of genetic information with disease pathogenesis and will influence the development of personalized medicine. Gene expression is controlled by epigenetic modifications, which in turn can be affected by environmental stimuli. Altogether, genetic and epigenetic information of Asian populations will contribute considerably to future rheumatology research.

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Figure 1: Historical overview of disease susceptibility polymorphisms identified in RA.
Figure 2: Association between risk genes and approved RA drugs.
Figure 3: Disease susceptibility polymorphisms can determine disease pathogenesis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Allergy and Rheumatology, Graduate School of Medicine, the University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan

    Kazuhiko Yamamoto

  2. Laboratory for Autoimmune Diseases, Center for Integrated Medical Sciences, RIKEN, Yokohama, 230-0045, Japan

    Kazuhiko Yamamoto, Akari Suzuki & Yuta Kochi

  3. Department of Human Genetics and Disease Diversity, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, 113-8510, Japan

    Yukinori Okada

Authors
  1. Kazuhiko Yamamoto
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  2. Yukinori Okada
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  4. Yuta Kochi
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Contributions

Y.O. contributed substantially to the discussion of content. K.Y., A.S. and Y.K. reviewed and edited the manuscript before submission. All authors wrote the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kazuhiko Yamamoto.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Table 1

Results of previously reported GWAS of rheumatoid arthritis performed in Asian populations (DOCX 24 kb)

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Yamamoto, K., Okada, Y., Suzuki, A. et al. Genetics of rheumatoid arthritis in Asia—present and future. Nat Rev Rheumatol 11, 375–379 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrrheum.2015.7

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