Genetics of Crohn’s Disease

Crohn’s disease is a type of bowel disease. It can affect any part of your digestive track, from your mouth to your anus. Most of time, it affects the end of your small intestine. It causes swelling in the lining of your digestive track. Crohn’s disease affects different parts of the digestive track in different people. Stomach pain, diarrhea, feeling tired and weight loss are all symptoms. For some, these can be overwhelming and may lead to life-threatening problems. There is no cure. But, there are treatments that ease symptoms and help people function well. Scientists found links between certain gene changes and Crohn’s disease. Researchers at Vanderbilt will use BioVU to confirm these gene changes. They will also check how Crohn’s affects the patients with specific changes. They hope to learn how specific changes affect the disease. People with certain changes may respond better to a given drug. We may also learn more about how changes affect when someone gets symptoms, or how bad the symptoms get. The results of the study may help us know how best to treat people with this disease.