Study of the Genetic Susceptibility to Ankylosing Spondylitis by Functional Genomics Approach

This is a matched case-control study to identify genetic susceptibility factors to Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS).

Patients and family controls selected from 154 families have been included in genome-wide linkage screening, comprising 440 patients and 904 individuals genotyped using microarrays Affymetrix® 250,000 single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs). For each locus,families with a LOD score of 0;15 in predefined region were retained. In these families will be selected a patient and a healthy control of the same sex, if possible, siblings and of comparable age (<10 years apart).

The patients and controls will be contacted by mail and / or telephone to obtain their participation in this study. An updating Questionnaire of AS events will be sent to them, particularly to check that the family controls did not develop AS since their inclusion in the genetic study.

Patient and family controls recruitment and obtaining their dendritic cells (DC) will be made during the first year.

After signing the informed consent, 60ml of whole blood will be taken from each included subject. The cells obtained from blood samples (leukocytes) will be cultured in the laboratory for seven days and used to extract the RNA that will be used to conduct the research. Some of these cells as well as their RNA will be frozen and can be thawed for later use if required.