Study suggests height, arthritis linkage

BETHESDA, Md., Jan. 14 (UPI) -- A U.S.-led international study has found evidence that genetic variants linked with osteoarthritis might also play a role in human height.

The research was conducted by an international team supported in part by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

The NIH said variants most strongly associated with height lie in a region of the human genome thought to influence expression of a gene for growth differentiation factor 5, or GDF5, which is a protein involved in the development of cartilage in the legs and other long bones.

"The common variants we identified are associated with both short stature and, as described previously, increased risk of osteoarthritis," said the study's senior author Karen Mohlke of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Our findings suggest a link between the genetic basis of height and osteoarthritis, potentially mediated through alterations in bone growth and development."

Mohlke and her colleagues emphasized the new variants account for just a small fraction of the genetic basis of height, which means much more research is needed before scientists can paint a complete picture of this complex human trait.

The findings appear in the advance online issue of the journal Nature Genetics.