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An abnormal function of the intestinal barrier has been found not only in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) but even in their healthy relatives, suggesting that this condition may precede disease onset by years.1 A genetic alteration in the intestinal permeability has also been proposed to exist in patients with coeliac disease. In support of this proposal, polymorphisms in the MYO9B gene (the gene for myosin IXb involved in cytoskeleton remodelling) were found to be associated with increased susceptibility to coeliac disease.2
The MYO9B gene has recently been investigated in relation to IBD and produced discordant results. No association was observed in a Norwegian population,3 but shortly afterwards an international collaboration group performed a statistically powerful study on samples collected from the UK, Netherlands, Canada and Italy in which MYO9B was found to be associated with IBD, and with ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease considered separately in some populations.4 In that study, a stronger effect was seen …
Footnotes
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↵* These authors contributed equally to this work.
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This work was supported by grants SAF2003-08522 and SAF2006-00398. AM has a FIS contract (CP04/00175) and EU works for the “Fundación para la Investigación Biomédica-Hospital Clínico San Carlos”.
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Competing interests: None.