Current treatments for osteoarthritis—the top cause of disability around the world—relieve symptoms, but they don’t delay or reverse progression because they can’t address the underlying causes.
A recent German meta-analysis published in Nature may offer data to help improve the lives of people with osteoarthritis. Researchers identified 700 genes that could be involved in the etiology, or underlying causes, of the disease. Because these causes vary from person to person, this discovery could potentially lead to personalized treatments that target the biological factors contributing to the condition.
