Familial Mediterranean fever: the genetics of inflammation.

When a patient complains of episodic fever accompanied by unexplained arthritis, peritonitis, pleurisy, or skin rash, this disorder should be considered. The disease-related gene codes for a protein that guides a neutrophil's participation in inflammation; the protein's existence implies an entire regulatory pathway hitherto unknown. At least two other mendelian periodic fever syndromes have also been described.