sensitivity needed at an early stage to differentiate RA from osteoarthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and other autoimmune diseases.
In epigenetics studies of the inflammation-producing cells lining the joints of RA patients, Firestein’s team identified distinctive DNA patterns known as methylation biomarkers that could serve as a reliable test for RA in a blood sample.
Epigenetics refers to modifications to an individual’s DNA that affect gene expression without altering the order or sequence of the DNA. (Epigenetics helps to explain why a disease like RA might strike one genetically identical twin but not the other.) NexDx says such modifications can play an important role in determining disease susceptibility and severity, as well as a patient’s response to therapeutic drugs.
In a statement from the company, Dr. Firestein says, “With early diagnosis, physicians might be able to aggressively treat rheumatoid arthritis earlier than now possible and personalize therapy to minimize or halt disease progression.” In just-released RA treatment guidelines, the American College of Rheumatology says early aggressive therapy helps preserve the RA patient’s physical function, quality of life, and capacity to work.
In addition to developing a diagnostic test, NexDx plans to scrutinize aberrant DNA methylation signatures in search of potential drug targets for biopharmaceutical company partners.
Author: Bruce V. Bigelow
In Memoriam: Our dear friend Bruce V. Bigelow passed away on June 29, 2018. He was the editor of Xconomy San Diego from 2008 to 2018. Read more about his life and work here.
Bruce Bigelow joined Xconomy from the business desk of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He was a member of the team of reporters who were awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for uncovering bribes paid to San Diego Republican Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham in exchange for special legislation earmarks. He also shared a 2006 award for enterprise reporting from the Society of Business Editors and Writers for “In Harm’s Way,” an article about the extraordinary casualty rate among employees working in Iraq for San Diego’s Titan Corp. He has written extensively about the 2002 corporate accounting scandal at software goliath Peregrine Systems. He also was a Gerald Loeb Award finalist and National Headline Award winner for “The Toymaker,” a 14-part chronicle of a San Diego start-up company. He takes special satisfaction, though, that the series was included in the library for nonfiction narrative journalism at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.
Bigelow graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1977 with a degree in English Literature and from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1979. Before joining the Union-Tribune in 1990, he worked for the Associated Press in Los Angeles and The Kansas City Times.
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