So far, about 15 percent of patients tested have the altered form of the gene. How the mutation contributes to Crohn's Disease is unclear. When the Nod2 gene is damaged, researchers said, the immune system probably overreacts and mistakenly attacks healthy intestinal cells, causing chronic inflammation. Life is more uniform than we think,'' said gasteroenterologist Charles Elson, a Crohn's Disease expert at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. It is closely related to ulcerative colitis, so physicians often group the two disorders as inflammatory bowel disease.
Researchers believe that immune cells in the gut overreact to the presence of bacteria.
The resulting inflammation causes the intestinal lining to ulcerate and break down. The U.S. study tested DNA supplied by 416 families with a history of Crohn's Disease. The French study tested 235 families. Both groups focused on chromosome 16. Previous studies showed it was a promising site for genes involved with recognizing invading microbes.