Background and aims: A recent study reported that a nonsynonymous SNP rs2241880 (c.898A >G, p.Thr300Ala) within ATG16L1 confers susceptibility to Crohn's disease (CD). We analyzed ATG16L1 c.898A > G in three independent European inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) cohorts from Germany, Hungary and the Netherlands.
Methods
IntroductionCrohn's disease (CD) is thought to result from an aberrant immune response towards bacteria of fecal origin in a genetically susceptible host. The characterization of the genetic background in CD is emerging rapidly, especially by genome-wide association studies. Using this approach, a nonsynonymous SNP (rs2241880) in the ATG16L1 gene leading to a threonine by alanine exchange in codon 300 (c.898A > G, p.Thr300Ala) was recently associated with CD, but not with ulcerative colitis (UC). 1 ATG16L1 encodes a protein involved in processing of intracellular bacteria, and mouse orthologue localizes to the autophagic isolation membrane during autophagosome formation.2 Although the precise function of human ATG16L1 is currently unknown, an aberrant ATG16L1 protein might result in defective bacterial detection and thus play a role in CD pathogenesis. This is supported by the function of the most established genetic risk factor for CD, CARD15, which constitutes an intracellular receptor for bacterial recognition.3 Interestingly, the pioneer study detected statistical interactions between ATG16L1 and CARD15.1.A disturbed epithelial barrier is suggested to be crucially involved in development and course of CD. This barrier dysfunction is believed to be genetically determined. We have recently reported that the c.3020insC CARD15 variant might only explain part of this genetic basis 4 and thus other genetic variants must be involved.We formulated the following aims of our study: 2. Materials and methods
PatientsPatients with the diagnosis of CD or UC were included in the study based upon clinical, endoscopic, radiological, and histological findings according to standardized criteria. 5 All studies were approved by the responsible ethic committees of all three institutions and informed consent was obtained from each participant.IBD patients were recruited from the following tertiary referral centers: In total, 489 Caucasian IBD patients (310 with CD and 179 with UC) were recruited from the Charité Berlin (Campus Mitte and Campus Virchow). In addition, 147 patients with CD and 117 patients with UC from the 1st Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Szeged, Hungary, were included. Among the 147 CD patients, 137 were Caucasians and 10 patients were from the Roma minority (Gypsy).Lastly, we enrolled 157 CD patients from the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, the Netherlands.Unrelated and healthy subjects from Germany (n = 285), Hungary (n = 207) and the Netherlands (n = 215) served as controls.
Clinical characteristics of IBD patientsClinical data of IBD patients were obtained through retrospective collection from t...