Project overview
Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis affecting over eight million people in the UK and presents a major health-economic burden. OA is thought to be caused by complex interplay between environmental and genetic factors. As with many common complex diseases, the genetic architecture of OA has not been characterised yet.
In order to enable a well-powered genome-wide association scan (GWAS) for OA, we have formed arcOGEN , a UK-wide collaborative effort aiming to carry out a 2-stage GWAS. We have thus far completed stage 1 (including 3,177 knee and/or hip OA cases and 4,894 controls from the UK typed for 514,898 single nucleotide polymorphisms [SNPs]) and have carried out an interim analysis.
Stage 2 of the arcOGEN GWAS involves the collection and genome-wide scanning of an independent set of > 4,500 OA cases, defined by the severe endpoint of total hip and or total knee replacement.