Crohn's+Developments

__Risk Factors of Crohn's Disease and AS __

An interesting development in Crohn's disease that I found is a new study suggesting that there is evidence of an overlap between risk factors for Crohn's disease and Ankylosing spondylitis (AS). AS is an inflammatory disease that causes inflammation of the joints between the spinal bones, as well as the joints between the spine and the pelvis (Ankylosing Spondylitis).

Genome wide association studies (GWAS) were showing high relation in the causes of both Crohn's and AS and decided to investigate this further. Both Crohn;s and AS are inflammatory diseases, just affecting different areas of the body, but the genome of both Crohn's and AS had to be examined to see if there was a relation between the two diseases (Cruyssen, et. al, 2010).

The researches analyzed 6,894 Crohn's cases, using 9,316 controls, and found 40 Crohn's risk loci. To examine the overlap between Crohn's and AS, the researchers genotyped 182 AS patients for SNP markers matching 39 of 40 of the loci found (Cruyssen, et. al, 2010).

As the researchers expected, the results were favorable to their hypothesis. A highly significant association was found with rs3763313, along with a strong association with rs11209026. This means that there is, in fact, a correlation between risk variants in Crohn's and AS, which contributes to a common susceptibility between Crohn's and AS (Cruyssen, et. al, 2010).



"Ankylosing Spondylitis." Google Health. Google.com, 2010. Web. 12 Dec. 2010. .

Cruyssen, Bert Vander; De Vos, Martine; Elewaut, Dirk; Georges, Michel; Laukens, Debby; Libioulle, Cecile; Mni, Myriam; Sandor, Cynthia; Peeters, Harald. "Evidence for Significant Overlap between Common Risk Variants for Crohn's Disease and Ankylosing Spondylitis." PubMed, 27 Sept. 2010. Web. 12  Dec. 2010. <[]>.

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