Fifty years ago, experts first identified the HLA-B27 gene as a major predisposing factor for ankylosing spondylitis , the strongest association ever described for any polygenic disease.
In the early 1990s, a variant was identified in the Sardinian genetic heritage. By comparing the "B27" gene (present throughout the world) and the Sardinian variant, a great similarity emerged from a protein point of view but many differences in terms of predisposition to develop the disease. With this discovery, experts believe they can trace the mechanism that causes Ankylosing Spondylitis and, consequently, the general mechanism of susceptibility to immune-mediated diseases .
For this reason, Sardinia and in particular the town of Barumini was chosen as the venue for the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the first report in the literature of the association of the HLA-B27 gene with Ankylosing Spondylitis.
The international congress with the most illustrious world experts on the subject will be held on Friday 30 June in the congress hall of the Nuragic site. The event is organized by Alberto Cauli , director of Rheumatology at the University Hospital of Cagliari and full professor of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Cagliari. Cauli and his team have been engaged in research for many years to discover the mechanisms underlying this important inflammatory pathology of the spine.
Since its first reporting in the prestigious journals "The Lancet" and "New England Journal of Medicine" in 1973 (precisely 50 years ago), the subject has constantly attracted the attention of biomedical researchers because, being the strongest association never described in medicine for any polygenic immune-mediated pathology, could, if clarified in its pathogenetic details, constitute the key to understanding not only arthritis but all other immune-mediated diseases such as and many others.
