Patent ID: 8137915

Claim:
A method for identifying a human subject having an increased risk of Crohn's disease, said method comprising: (a) contacting a biological specimen from said human subject with a nucleic acid probe specific for a variant nucleic acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:3 having a C to T mutation at nucleotide 16467, SEQ ID NO:3 having a G to C mutation at nucleotide 27059, and SEQ ID NO:3 having a C insertion at nucleotide 34296; (b) determining the presence or absence of said variant nucleic acid sequence by detecting hybridization between said nucleic acid probe and said variant nucleic acid sequence; and (c) identifying a human subject carrying said variant nucleic acid sequence in homozygous form as having an increased risk of Crohn's disease in comparison to a human subject carrying said variant nucleic acid sequence in heterozygous form or a human subject not carrying said variant nucleic acid sequence.