Rheumatoid Arthritis Support

Various connective tissue conditions have been identified; these can be both inherited and environmental.

* Marfan syndrome - a genetic disease causing abnormal fibrillin.

* Scurvy - caused by a dietary deficiency in vitamin C, leading to abnormal collagen.

* Ehlers-Danlos syndrome - deficient type III collagen- a genetic disease causing progressive deterioration of collagens, with different EDS types affecting different sites in the body, such as joints, heart valves, organ walls, arterial walls, etc.

* Loeys-Dietz syndrome - a genetic disease related to Marfan syndrome, with an emphasis on vascular deterioration.

* Pseudoxanthoma elasticum - an autosomal recessive hereditary disease, caused by calcification and fragmentation of elastic fibres, affecting the skin, the eyes and the cardiovascular system.

* Systemic lupus erythematosus - a chronic, multisystem, inflammatory disorder of probable autoimmune etiology, occurring predominantly in young women.

* Osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease) - caused by insufficient production of good quality collagen to produce healthy, strong bones.

* Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva - disease of the connective tissue, caused by a defective gene which turns connective tissue into bone.

* Spontaneous pneumothorax - collapsed lung, believed to be related to subtle abnormalities in connective tissue.

* Sarcoma - a neoplastic process originating within connective tissue.


Adapted from the Wikipedia article Connective tissue, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki