It's difficult to predict how soon pharmaceutical companies will be able to use this information to target treatment, but it allows us to think about the disease in different terms. Cho said she would not recommend genetic testing because by itself, the process isn't predictive of disease. Most people with the gene mutation are healthy and will never develop Crohn's. She predicted, however, therapies could be available within several years if pharmaceutical companies fast-track development. The disorder, which affects as many as 500,000 people in the United States, typically first appears in patients under age 30.
Symptoms range from mild to severe and can include diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever and weight loss.
It's a seminal achievement that provides hope for better treatments for patients suffering from Crohn's disease. The Nod2 gene is involved in the human immune system's initial response to bacterial infection. The scientists found the mutated form of Nod2, lacking about 3 percent of the whole gene's protein, mounts a significantly weaker immune defense against bacterial infection. In 1999, Dr. Salomon Amar, associate professor of oral biology at the Boston University School of Dental Medicine, led the team that first identified the gene that encodes for the fundamental pathway in a variety of inflammatory diseases, including Crohn's. Some of our work here and at other institutions is directed at blocking transcription of the gene, thereby dampening inflammation associated with Crohn's and other diseases.