Most equate arthritis with the elderly. Unfortunately, though, arthritis is also a painful reality for at least 100-thousand children in this country.

Now, research by a pediatric rheumatologist with OU Children’s Physicians may point the way to faster, more effective treatments for young arthritis patients.

Shannon Lette’s daughter Izzy was only two-and-a-half when they first noticed unusual knots on her hands. A trip to the pediatrician’s office led to a referral to the specialists with OU Children’s Physicians and a diagnosis soon after.

“It was scary because we thought that she had cancer,” said Lette.“We didn't know what JRA (juvenile rheumatoid arthritis) was; and when they told us the diagnosis, we were a little relieved, but didn't realize, you know, what the severity arthritis can have on a child.”

In fact, OU Children’s Physicians say arthritis can take a tremendous toll on children physically, emotionally and developmentally. Yet, Izzy’s pediatric rheumatologist, James Jarvis M.D. says treatment can pose a challenge.

“It's very difficult because it's hard to know which child is going to respond to a specific drug and which children are going to need stronger drugs.”

That’s why when he is not seeing patients, Jarvis spends much of his time in his laboratory at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. With funding from the National Institutes of Health, Jarvis and his team of fellow scientists are hunting for signs in a patient’s genetic make-up that would tell them which drug will work best for that individual.

Using a new technology called gene microarrays, the team zeroes in on the 21,000 genes in the nucleus of a given cell. They know the cell uses or expresses only a subset of those genes, while other cells use a different subset.

“We can transfer that kind of information to patients, so we can say okay children with a really bad form of arthritis might be using these 8,000 genes, but maybe the children who are going to respond to milder medicines are using 8,000 minus 30,” he explained.

The team believes those patterns of white blood cell gene expression can help determine how well an arthritis patient will respond to a given therapy.

Jarvis says the goal is to find a way to keep children like Izzy up and active more of the time -and experiencing pain, stiffness and other arthritis symptoms less.

For Izzy’s mom, Jarvis and his research bring hope.

“Because he is so positive and so reassuring every time we go in to see him,” she said, “that, you know, this is what we've learned now. This is something else that we've found. So he gives a lot of hope.”

In the future, Jarvis and fellow OU Children’s Physicians predict doctors will be able to better determine just how a young arthritis patient will respond to a medication based on his or her own genetic information. It is research that may also help lead to new therapies custom-designed for each child.

The OU team recently published their findings in Arthritis Research Therapy.