Susceptibility variant for Crohn's disease identified

Last Updated: 2007-01-01 1:00:10 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A variant of the autophagy-related 16-like 1 (ATLG16L1) gene appears to increase the risk of Crohn's disease, according to a report in the December 31st online issue of Nature Genetics.

ATLG16L1 is a protein found in intestinal epithelium that is involved in the digestion and clearance of intracellular bacteria. The variant, designated rs2241880, would be expected to alter this function and the new findings support the concept of Crohn's disease as a disorder of the inflammatory barrier in the gut.

Dr. Stefan Schreiber, from Christian-Albrechts University Kiel in Germany, and colleagues searched more than 7000 genetic variants across the genome for ones that were associated with Crohn's disease in a cohort of 735 patients. This led to the identification of rs2241880, which was confirmed as a susceptibility variant in a separate validation cohort.

The researchers also found evidence that rs2241880 interacts with previously identified CARD15 susceptibility variants to further increase the risk of Crohn's disease.

No association between rs2241880 and ulcerative colitis was noted.

Further studies are needed to determine the functional consequences of the newly identified variant, the researchers note.

Nat Genet 2006.