32 genes for Crohn's - so far

New research featured in Nature Genetics [full article via subscription] has found many more genes which increase the likelihood of a person developing Crohn's. Each gene helps scientists understand the mechanism of Crohn's better, and offers the potential for new targets of therapies.

The Boston Globe reports further:

The genome research has helped produce a "fundamentally new concept" of Crohn's, said Dr. R. Balfour Sartor, chief medical adviser of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America.

The idea, he said, is that in Crohn's disease, cells in the intestine have trouble using the weapons of the innate immune system - such as autophagy - to get rid of bacteria, so the immune system's second line of defense, big-gun T-cells, get called in, causing inflammation.

Reuters has more:

Significantly, three of the individual genes that have been implicated in Crohn's have previously been shown to influence risk of type 1 diabetes and asthma, suggesting a possible common genetic mechanism underlying these disorders.

As we come closer to identifying the cause of Crohn's we will have medications that attack the cause, rather than the symptoms, of the disease. The identification of related genes will no doubt play an important role in this.