Abstract
Linking Crohn's Disease and Ankylosing Spondylitis: It's All about Genes!
Highlights
Chronic inflammatory arthritis, a hallmark of several inflammatory rheumatic diseases, and inflammatory bowel disease are both life-long conditions, with substantial morbidity and even mortality
The striking relationship between inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) has been recognized for many years: up to 10% of IBD patients develop AS, and, vice versa, IBD commonly develops in patients primarily diagnosed with AS [3]
Strong evidence for this idea has been derived from the Icelandic genealogy database: it was shown that AS and IBD have a strong elevated cross-risk ratio in first- and second-degree relatives
Summary
A hallmark of several inflammatory rheumatic diseases, and inflammatory bowel disease are both life-long conditions, with substantial morbidity and even mortality. As both have an important underlying genetic heritability, it has been suggested that the two diseases could have an overlapping set of predisposing genes. In this issue of PLoS Genetics, Danoy et al [5] report on the results of genomewide association studies looking at a set of recently identified Crohn’s disease (CD) susceptibility genes in a large cohort of AS patients [6].
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
