Researchers Solving the Genetic Mystery of Psoriasis
First posted Nov. 4, 2003
As the saying goes, "Rome wasn't built in a day." And so it is with a team of international geneticists brought together recently by the National Psoriasis Foundation in the heart of that ancient city to discuss the progress of their work. The conclusion: years of research have passed and years lay ahead, but slowly and surely the genes behind psoriasis are being revealed.
Established in 1995, the International Psoriasis Genetics Consortium (IPGC) met in September to compare data and further refine their approach to unraveling the genetic secrets of psoriasis. The IPGC brings together the world's leading investigators in psoriasis genetics, including attendees from Sweden, Finland, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.
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"The meeting closed on an upbeat note with the feeling that the next few years are going to lead to the identification of a large number of psoriasis susceptibility genes," said Anne Bowcock, Ph.D., of Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Bowcock presented evidence that genetic regions on chromosome 17 are involved in psoriasis.
The consortium also recognized that individual genes are likely to have weak effects and that it will be important for the researchers to work together as a group to explore the interactions between the genes required for the disease to develop, Dr. Bowcock added. To date, researchers have identified 14 genetic regions that appear to contain genes involved in psoriasis.
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DNA donated by Psoriasis Foundation members to the National Psoriasis Tissue Bank is being used by several of the researchers.
The Psoriasis Foundation is evaluating a proposal from the IPGC to assemble different samples of DNA to locate once and for all the exact location of a gene on chromosome 6, which is believed to make the major contribution to the inheritance of psoriasis. This year, the group established the strongest evidence yet that psoriasis is associated with chromosome 6 and their findings were published in the prestigious American Journal of Human Genetics.
The suspected genetic region holding the gene on chromosome 6 is located within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). The MHC controls the body's ability to recognize foreign antigens (viruses or bacteria) and is essential to the immune system. About 180 functional genes are encoded in the DNA this region, and, 40 percent of those genes are involved in antigen recognition and other aspects of the immune system. Psoriasis may be triggered by an antigen produced by the body itself, rather than a foreign invader such as a virus, and the Foundation is funding research aimed at finding the antigen. The region on chromosome 6 associated with psoriasis is called PSORS1 for "psoriasis susceptibility 1."
The IPGC was established shortly after the discovery of the first location of a possible gene for psoriasis on chromosome 17. Yet inspiration for the IPGC dates back to 1989, when the Foundation invited U.S. and international scientists to Deer Valley, Utah, for a workshop focused on psoriasis.
Among the scientists' recommendations was the establishment of a large, centralized psoriasis tissue depository-a "bank" of blood samples from people in large families with psoriasis that researchers could use to conduct genetic studies. The Foundation and its members responded and formed the National Psoriasis Tissue Bank.
Approximately four years later, in 1994, the tissue bank opened its doors. Researchers were quick to use it as a resource. Using data from the bank, Dr. Bowcock and at that time her team at the University of Texas published an article in the prominent journal Science that announced the chromosome 17 discovery. The Foundation then acted on a recommendation from Dr. Bowcock to bring together researchers from around the world to collaborate and conduct large studies using the tissue bank's data. Hence, the IPGC was formed.
Previous meetings of the IPGC have been held in Stockholm, Sweden; Dallas; London; Cologne, Germany; and Nice, France, where some of the world's leading investigators in the field are located.
-Will Morton, Editor
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