Connect
← Return to Does PMR run in families?
Discussion
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Mar 19 9:02am | Replies (24)
Comment receiving replies
No one else in my family or extended family has PMR or even heard of it. However, we do have a tendency for autoimmune disorders. My father suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and other members have had Crohn's disease and several other autoimmune conditions.
Replies to "No one else in my family or extended family has PMR or even heard of it...."
Connect
"We do have a tendency for autoimmune disorders."
-------------------------------
This is the key to the genetic question. Don't ask about PMR because most people don't know it exists. When you start to ask about autoimmune disorders in general you might get a different answer.
When I was very young ... I had an uncle on my mother's side who called me a "Swede." I had no idea what that meant so I just ignored it. Genetically speaking ... I do have Scandinavian genes. Blond hair ... blue eyes were my traits except my hair is grey now.
I'm HLA-B27 positive. That gene ... HLA-B27 is linked to Scandinavia, specifically with higher prevalence rates in Northern Scandinavia and Finland compared to other regions of Europe. The prevalence of HLA-B27 is also correlated with the incidence of ankylosing spondylitis (AS), a type of arthritis, and other inflammatory diseases.
There are many autoimmune syndromes that can happen if you are HLA-B27 positive. Nobody knows why this particular gene predisposes people to autoimmune disease. I just know HLA-B27 positive is now plastered everywhere in my medical records.
https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1201027-overview.
-----------------------------
To get a better idea about what can happen --click on the "view media gallery" link underneath the picture of the eye in the above link.