Toll-like receptor 4 and NOD2/CARD15 mutations in Hungarian patients with Crohn's disease: phenotype-genotype correlations

Abstract

Aim: Mutations of NOD2/CARD15 gene predispose for Crohn disease (CD) and are associated with fibrostenosing behaviour. Since NOD2/CARD15 is involved in the recognition of bacterial antigens including the pathway of toll like receptor 4 (TLR4) functional D299G polymorphism of TLR4 may be another genetic modifier for CD. In view of the large geographical differences in frequency of these genetic markers and absence of data in Central-European patients, common NOD2/CARD15 mutations and D299G-TLR4 polymorphism were determined in Hungarian CD patients.