Genome scan for quantity of hand osteoarthritis: the Framingham Study

To search for markers linked to quantity of radiographic hand osteoarthritis (OA) in the Framingham Heart Study.

The sample included 684 original cohort members and 793 offspring in 296 pedigrees. Radiographic OA features evaluated included the Kellgren/Lawrence (K/L) score, osteophytes, and joint space narrowing (0-3 scale). Four quantitative phenotypes were computed from these measurements: sum of K/L scores across hand joints, sum of osteophyte scores, sum of joint space narrowing scores, and proportion of affected joints. Prior to linkage analysis, these phenotypes were adjusted for age using a linear regression analysis from which standardized residuals were computed. The regression analysis was performed separately for each sex and each generation. The variance component model (SOLAR) was then applied to the normalized scores of the residuals.

The average age was 62 years for the original cohort and 54 years for the offspring. Fifty percent of the original cohort and 30% of their offspring had at least 1 affected joint (K/L score >or=2). Heritability ranged from 28% (proportion of joints affected with OA) to 34% (sum of K/L scores). Eight chromosomal regions indicated suggestive linkage (multipoint logarithm of odds [LOD] score >1.5) for at least 1 phenotype; LOD scores were highest for joint space narrowing, with a multipoint LOD score = 2.96 on chromosome 1p at D1S1665. Chromosomes 7, 9, 13, and 19 indicated consistent LOD score elevation for multiple OA phenotypes.

There are several chromosomes that may harbor OA susceptibility genes. Further investigation of these regions using larger studies and finer maps will be important to confirm linkage.