This study found a novel genetic association of RAC2 with Crohn's disease (CD) and replicated the previously reported association of NCF4 with ileal CD.
Similarly, a pooled analysis using data from two recent studies did not demonstrate associations between the NCF4 (OR = 1.10, 95% CI = 0.91-1.32, P = 0.32) and FAM92B (OR = 1.05, 95% CI = 0.95-1.17, P = 0.36) GWAS lead SNPs and ileal CD.
To investigate whether variants in the NCF4 and ATG4A genes are associated with granuloma formation in a cohort of Israeli patients with CD, exploring demographic and clinical characteristics that differ between granuloma positive and granuloma negative patients.
In contrast to the North American population, PHOX2B, NCF4, FAM92B, and rs224136 are not associated with CD in the European population, whereas NOD2/CARD15, IL23R, and ATG16L1 are strongly associated with CD in both the North American and European populations, confirming these three genes as major CD susceptibility genes in Caucasian populations.