James, please look at the serious of posts above.
#1) I said my wife had the gene. City of Hope said so. I believe them.
#2) You said it isn't hereditary.
#3) Then I said there is a genetic component and provided link to peer reviewed science.
#4) Then you said genes and heredity are not the same thing.
So why did you even bother to mention heredity in the first place?
And none of this is very helpful to our sick friend. Sheri, I am still thinking good thoughts on your behalf.
Simple, because when they say a person has "a gene" for a particular disease they are referring to a hereditary component because doctors also commonly mistake genetic for hereditary. This is why I mentioned the breast cancer, which many doctors mistake for hereditary because of a mutation of the BRAC1 gene, which happens to be a tumor suppressor gene, not a tumor promoter. Another example of why people get confused is when doctors claim a woman is at high risk for breast cancer because they test positive for the BRAC-1 gene. Again, this is a tumor suppressor gene, not a tumor promoter. Defects in this gene can promote cancer, and thus it is genetic. But it still is not hereditary. The mutations of the BRAC-1 gene are viral mutations in which viral genes are inserted in to our own genetic code altering the way our own genes respond. This is well known yet we still hear doctors every day falsely claiming breast cancer is hereditary and women are getting their breasts cut off in fear that they have inherited a cancer gene from a parent, which simply is not true.
The same applies to rheumatoid arthritis. It is not caused by an inherited condition. It has been known for several decades that rheumatoid arthritis is caused by bacterial infections. By the way, bacteria also have genes and thus bacterial infections are also genetic but not hereditary. One of the reasons allopathic medicine has NEVER cured even one single case of rheumatoid arthritis is because they refuse to acknowledge the research that has shown the cause of rheumatoid arthritis and secondly because they are trying to suppress an immune system that is already suppressed. That is why rheumatoid arthritis progresses despite the treatments. If these doctors would learn something about immunology they would know that a major hallmark of autoimmunity is not an overactive immune system, but rather immune suppression through the adrenal glands. It is the adrenal glands that regulate the formation of antibodies through the release of corticosteroids. The lack of corticosteroids from adrenal dysfunction leads to the overproduction of low affinity (nonspecific) antibodies known as "autoantibodies". These antibodies being nonspecific are what tag healthy tissues for destruction by the rest of the immune system, which is operating just like it is supposed to. So there is no overactivity as many doctors claim. I figured this out about 30 years ago by studying books on immunology. Look up the process by which they separate low affinity from high affinity antibodies for the production of monoclonal antibodies and you will see what I mean. Again, the information is not being hidden, just ignored because too many doctors are stuck in this tunnel vision thinking of autoimmunity involves a hyperactive immune system. If that is the case then why do things that suppress the immune system such as stress, stimulants and steroids aggravate autoimmune conditions? Because the immune system is not overactive, it is suppressed through the adrenals, which is further suppressed by stress, stimulants and steroids.
I could have followed the crowd and say sorry to hear about your condition but not offer any assistance to alleviate the pain or get rid of the condition. But I am not like that. To me that would be like if I saw your house on fire and I just said "sorry you lost your house and got burned" instead of knocking on your door and telling you to get the hell out when I had the chance to do something about the situation.
If people want to get rid of their rheumatoid arthritis immune suppressing drugs such as Prednisone and Methotrexate are not going to do it. All these drugs do is cover up the symptoms and leave the person vulnerable to all sorts of diseases and disorders in the process. To get rid of the rheumatoid arthritis it helps for the person to understand the disease and its causes so the causes can be addressed. That is why I sent the original poster information explaining autoimmunity the other day. She can read it and choose to change her diet and possibly some lifestyle issues if present and get a few supplements from the health food store to rebuild the adrenals or she can choose to ignore it.
But it does not help anyone to have people believing that rheumatoid arthritis is hereditary when it clearly is not. Hereditary conditions cannot be eliminated as where autoimmune conditions can.
As for the bacterial link to rheumatoid arthritis the first bacteria I ever heard linked to causing rheumatoid arthritis was Chlamydia pneumoniae, which was first linked decades ago. Here is a more recent study though:
Lupus. 2009 Feb;18(2):164-8. doi: 10.1177/0961203308096069.
Acute Chlamydia pneumoniae infection in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases.
Fujita M, Hatachi S, Yagita M.
Source
Department of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, Kitano Hospital, Tazuke Kofukai Medical Research Institute, Osaka, Japan. masaaki_fujita_masaaki_fujita@yahoo.co.jp
Abstract
Autoimmune diseases have several etiologies. Acute Chlamydia pneumoniae (C. pneumoniae) infection may be involved in the pathogenesis of several autoimmune diseases. In this study, 82 patients with several autoimmune diseases and 70 controls were enrolled, and acute C. pneumoniae infection has been evaluated by monitoring the levels of IgM antibody. Chlamydia pneumoniae IgM positive results were observed in 29% (P < 0.05) of the patients with several autoimmune diseases and in 10% of the controls. Chlamydia pneumoniae IgM positive cases were more frequent among the patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA; 30%, P < 0.05), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE; 28.0%, P < 0.05), dermatomyositis/polymyositis (23%, NS), myeloperoxidase-antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody (MPO-ANCA)-associated vasculitis (33%, NS), adult onset of Still's disease (29%, NS) and giant cell arteritis/Takayasu arteritis (50%, NS) than among the controls. This positive frequency was statistically significant in RA and SLE. These results suggest that acute C. pneumoniae infection is probably involved in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases.
Other bacteria linked to the formation of rheumatoid arthritis include Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium pneumoniae, Mycobacterium salivarum, Mycobacterium fermentans and Proteus mirabilis:
Bacterial Infections and the Pathogenesis of Autoimmune Conditions
www.bjmp.org/content/bacterial-infections-and-pathogenesis-autoimmune-conditionsPathogenesis of Chlamydia pneumonia Persistent Illnesses in Autoimmune Diseases
www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=11&ved=0CC0QFjAAOAo&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.intechopen.com%2Fdownload%2Fpdf%2F34594&ei=1sYyUpegIembiQLu34DoAw&usg=AFQjCNFpdDABmNKwv5M17wTTW_ThNDgjGQ&sig2=mJ4uaAkl8rtFb61SAaR6aQ&bvm=bv.52164340,d.cGE
The Role of Infections in the Pathogenesis of Autoimmune Diseases
www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CDMQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.direct-ms.org%2Fpdf%2FInfectiousMS%2FInfection%2520Autoimmune%2520Review.pdf&ei=btIyUq-4PMKDiwKShYHoCQ&usg=AFQjCNGSIM7aQQqq7gVwynwP84MjKPODiQ&sig2=jgBzH5FRlW0B58--pBqF0A&bvm=bv.52164340,d.cGE
Here is some more reading on the link between infections and rheumatoid arthritis:
Infections and autoimmunity: the multifaceted relationship
www.jleukbio.org/content/87/3/385.longMechanisms for the induction of autoimmunity by infectious agents
www.jci.org/articles/view/14235Persistent Chlamydiae and chronic arthritis
arthritis-research.com/content/4/1/5As for the gene you are referring to here is a link explaining it:
www.rheumatoid-arthritis-decisions.com/causes-of-rheumatoid-arthritis.html"The first HLA allele or type that occurs more often in rheumatoid arthritis patients than the general population was DR4.
In fact, some doctors currently test whether you have the HLA-DR4 allele as part of their diagnosis.
Another HLA allele, HLA-DR1, is often found in rheumatoid arthritis patients that have anti-CCP antibodies.
However, many people with HLA-DR4 or HLA-DR1 do not get rheumatoid arthritis.
Thus, your genes, HLA-DR4 or HLA-DR1 may increase the chances that you get rheumatoid arthritis, but they are not one of the causes of rheumatoid arthritis."