Access

News and Views

Nature 411, 537-539 (31 May 2001) | doi:10.1038/35079223

Open Innovation Challenges

Human genetics: Tackling common disease

John A. Todd

Top

Crohn's disease is characterized by inflammation and destruction of the bowel. Identification of defective variants of a gene that predispose people to the disease is an encouraging development.

The 1980s saw the identification of the genes which, when mutated, cause rare, inherited diseases such as cystic fibrosis that follow straightforward patterns of inheritance. The 1990s promised similar conquests in understanding the more common diseases (defined as more than one case per 1,000 people) that have a more complex genetic basis.