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Interleukin Genetics Initiates Study Of Genetics Of Osteoarthritis With New York University Medical Center
17 Aug 2007
As edited by Joint-Pain-Forum.com
Interleukin Genetics, Inc. (Amex: ILI) announced today that it
has initiated a study on the genetics of osteoarthritis in
collaboration with Dr. Steven Abramson, Director of the Division of
Rheumatology at the Hospital for Joint Diseases of New York University
Medical Center.
Osteoarthritis (OA) is the breakdown of the
cartilage cushion in one or more joints of the body leading to pain, to
limitation in movement, and in many cases to joint replacement. More
than 20 million adults in the United States currently have some form of
OA, with the number expected to double over the next 50 years. Therapy
for OA patients involves mostly pain management, and no drugs are
currently available to limit the cartilage and bone destruction.
Some patients have OA in one joint that may have resulted from a prior
injury, but many OA patients have a more generalized form of the
disease affecting multiple joints. The generalized form of OA is often
the most challenging in terms of patient management.
"We have
been working for several years to better understand why some of our
patients develop a more generalized form of OA with problems in
multiple joints," said Dr. Abramson. "Together with Interleukin
Genetics we will seek to determine if over-expression of certain
disease-related chemicals by some OA patients may be due to genetic
differences, and whether the genetic differences may increase the
likelihood of developing disease in multiple joints."
"Interleukin Genetics is pleased to be working with Dr. Abramson and
his team at the Hospital for Joint Diseases at NYU Medical Center,"
said Dr. Ken Kornman, Chief Scientific Officer of Interleukin Genetics.
"OA impacts tens of millions of people around the world, who can now
only turn to pain medication for temporary relief. We have identified
genetic patterns that lead to over-production of interleukin-1, one of
the key chemicals involved in cartilage and bone destruction, and this
study will help to determine if genetic tests can be used to identify
subgroups of OA patients that may be treated more effectively."
About the Study
Interleukin Genetics is investigating whether there is an association
between candidate gene variations, either individually or in composite
patterns, and poly-articular manifestations of osteoarthritis (OA),
defined in this study as the prevalence of knee and hand OA. The study
will also evaluate the association between certain genetic patterns and
the peripheral blood mononuclear cell expression of interleukin-1 Beta
in OA patients. Interleukin-1 Beta is one of the main chemicals
involved in destruction of collagen and bone.
Variations in the interleukin-1 (IL-1) gene family have been shown to
be associated with increased risk for other diseases that involve bone
and connective tissues, including osteoporosis and periodontal disease.
Using its proprietary IL-1 technology, Interleukin Genetics is now
collaborating with NYU Medical Center and the Division of Rheumatology
to study IL-1 genetic links to the form of osteoarthritis that affects
multiple joints and may be the result of a systemic over-expression of
key biological mediators, such as interleukin-1 Beta.
This
study is under the direction of Dr. Steven Abramson, Director of the
Division of Rheumatology and Dr. Mukundan Attur, Director of the
Rheumatology Research Laboratory at the New York University Hospital
for Joint Diseases.
Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common adult joint disease, increasing
in frequency and severity in all aging populations. The estimated U.S.
prevalence is 20-40 million patients or 5 times that of rheumatoid
arthritis. OA involvement of the hand, knee, hip and spine is common,
with total knee replacements numbering over 250,000/yr and total hip
replacements numbering over 150,000 per year in the U.S. alone. OA may
involve a single joint or multiple joints in the same individual, with
current therapy focused on pain relief as there is no FDA-approved
therapy that arrests or reverses the joint deterioration. The etiology
of OA is multifactorial involving both mechanical and biochemical
factors. OA progression is associated with accelerated cartilage
degradation leading to joint space narrowing, painful joint disruption,
and functional compromise. The pattern of expression for OA in many
ways mimics that of osteoporosis in that it is more common in women
than in men, and it appears to be related to postmenopausal changes
with hormone replacement therapy suppressing cartilage degradation. OA
disease progression is characterized by a proinflammatory gene
expression pattern in cartilage and in joint synovium, with a reactive
increase in bone density in the subchondral bone. Substantial data
provide support for a central role of interleukin-1 in the pathogenesis
of OA including animal susceptibility models and models of
IL-1-targeted therapy.
About Interleukin
Interleukin Genetics, Inc. (Amex: ILI) is a genetics-focused
personalized health company that develops preventive consumer products
and genetic tests for sale to the emerging personalized health market.
Focused on the future of health and medicine, Interleukin uses its
leading genetics research and scientific capabilities to develop and
test innovative preventive and therapeutic products. Interleukin
currently offers an array of Nutraceuticals and OTCeuticals, including
Ginkoba(R), Ginsana(R) and Venastat(R) which are sold at the nation's
largest food, drug and mass retailers, and has commercialized genetic
tests for periodontal disease risk assessment, cardiovascular risk
assessment, and general nutrition assessment. Interleukin is
headquartered in Waltham, MA. For more information about Interleukin
and its ongoing programs, please visit http://www.ilgenetics.com.
Certain statements contained herein are "forward-looking" statements
including statements regarding our ability to develop diagnostic,
personalized nutritional and therapeutic products to prevent or treat
diseases of inflammation and other genetic variations, our ability to
screen nutritional compounds for their effects on inflammatory
responses and other genetic variations, given specific genetic patterns
and our ability to make progress in advancing our core technologies.
Because such statements include risks and uncertainties, actual results
may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-
looking statements include, but are not limited to, the risk of market
acceptance of our products, the risk of technology and product
obsolescence, delays in product development, the performance of our
commercial partners, the availability of adequate capital, the actions
of our competitors and other competitive risks, and those risks and
uncertainties described in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year
ended December 31, 2006 as amended, filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, our quarterly reports on Form 10- Q and other
filings made by us with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We
disclaim any obligation or intention to update these forward-looking
statements.
Interleukin Genetics, Inc.
http://www.ilgenetics.com
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