Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS AND VIEWS

A molecular connection hints at how a genetic risk factor drives Crohn’s disease

Mutations of the NOD2 gene are risk factors for Crohn’s disease. Many aspects of how they contribute to the condition are unknown. The discovery of cell populations that are involved suggests new therapeutic options.
  1. Scott Plevy

    1. Scott Plevy is at Senda Biosciences, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02140, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

Crohn’s disease, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease, affects many people. For example, more than 0.3% of the populations of Canada and Germany have the condition, and its incidence is increasing worldwide1. Better therapies are needed, but progress in treating Crohn’s disease has been hampered by the lack of understanding of how it arises. Writing in Nature, Nayar et al.2 shed light on a long-standing mystery about one risk factor for Crohn’s disease, and their findings have important clinical implications.

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Nature 593, 201-203 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-00979-z

References

  1. Ng, S. C. et al. Lancet 390, 2769–2778 (2017).

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Nayar, S. et al. Nature 593, 275–281 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Rieder, F., Zimmermann, E. M., Remzi, F. H. & Sandborn, W. J. Gut 62, 1072–1084 (2013).

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Cuthbert, A. P. et al. Gastroenterology 122, 867–874 (2002).

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Sidiq, T., Yoshihama, S., Downs, I. & Kobayashi, K. S. Front. Immunol. 7, 367 (2016).

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Franchi, L., Warner, N., Viani, K. & Nuñez, G. Immunol. Rev. 227, 106–128 (2009).

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Brugman, S. Dev. Comp. Immunol. 64, 82–92 (2016).

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Duggan, S. T. & McKeage, K. Drugs 71, 2193–2212 (2011).

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Hilmi, I., Tan, Y. M. & Goh, K. L. World J. Gastroenterol. 12, 1435–1438 (2006).

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Mondal, K. & Kugathasan, S. Nature Rev. Gastroenterol. Hepatol. 14, 266–268 (2017).

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links