Framingham study participants yield genetic clues to gout

Researchers scrutinizing genetic data including samples from three generations of the Framingham Heart Study have discovered two new genes and confirmed a third that are linked to an elevated risk of developing gout. The findings are the first published results based on Framingham medical information, which was made available to scientists around the world a year ago.

Led by Dr. Caroline S. Fox of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, an international team of scientists studied genetic variations among more than 7,000 Framingham Heart Study participants who agreed to give their genetic and clinical data to an online database called the SHARe program, short for SNP Health Association Resource. (SNP stands for single nucleotide polymorphism, which is a kind of genetic variation.) Other samples came from a large study in the Netherlands.

People who have all three genes have a risk of getting gout that is 40 times higher than people who don't have the genetic variations, the researchers report in The Lancet. About 3 million Americans suffer from gout, a painful form of arthritis caused by a buildup of uric acid in the blood. Being able to predict who might develop gout based on their genetic risk could help guide treatment and perhaps find better therapies, the authors suggest.

The Framingham study, sponsored by Boston University School of Medicine, Boston University School of Public Health, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, began in 1948.