LupusCorner

Genetic Markers for Lupus Predisposition: A New Study

Article1 min readUpdated Feb 21, 2025View source ↗
A just-published study has identified 24 new genetic markers that predispose a person to develop lupus (SLE). It is no secret that lupus prevalence varies by sex and ethnicity. Women are 9-times more likely to develop lupus as compared to men; African-American women are 3-times more likely to develop lupus as compared to Caucasian women, according to the NIH. Research into genetics attempts to answer why these patterns develop. Patterns that are caused by genetic variation are called heritability. Heritability (like much of the study of genetics) is a surprisingly complicated concept. The nature versus nurture problem is a common issue in genetics research. Is variation due to a person’s genotype or the circumstances/environment that they were raised in? The NIH notes: “The ideal experimental subjects are identical twins reared apart, because they are genetically identical but environmentally different.”
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