Genomewide screens in ankylosing spondylitis

Efforts to identify genes other than HLA-B27 in AS have been driven by the strength of the evidence from genetic epidemiology studies indicating that HLA-B27, although a major gene in AS, is clearly not the only significant gene operating. This is the case for both genetic determinants of disease-susceptibility and phenotypic characteristics such as disease severity and associated disease features. In this chapter the genetic epidemiology of AS and the gene-mapping studies performed to date will be reviewed and the future direction of research in this field discussed.