Variant of a Single Gene Could Determine Risk of Developing Crohn’s Disease
Crohn’s disease is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease, “characterized by inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract” which causes frequent recurring diarrhea, rectal bleeding, fever, and abdominal pain in addition to other symptoms. However, researchers believe they’ve identified they’ve discovered mutations of one specific gene may be the culprit.
Their study, recently published in Science Translational Medicine, describes how they examined “the genomes of 5,700 Jewish people – some with [Crohn’s disease] and some without – to see if they could glean anything else about the underlying genetics of the disease,” IFLScience.com reported.
They discovered the LRRK2 gene has the greatest potential to impact an individal’s liklihood of developing the disease. A “bad” variant of the gene has the potential to raise the risk of developing Crohn’s disease by 70%, however, a “good” variant could lower the risk by 25%.
The researchers realized this gene may also be involved with Parkinson’s disease as well.
