The inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, are chronic
inflammatory disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. Enormous progress has been made …

… that genetic factors play a role in IBD pathogenesis, however the identification of specific
genes has been difficult due to complex disease genetics (the involvement of multiple genes …

… was shown to have a genetic basis, in that a polymorphism in the defensin gene cluster
linked with low β-defensin copy number was associated with colonic Crohn disease (48). …

… understanding of genetic underpinnings of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD… basis of and
impact on disease differ in rare and common polymorphisms (10–12). Common human genetic …

… and resistant genotypes, respectively, was used as a basis for QTL analyses in IL-10–deficient
mice to map a colitis susceptibility gene locus on murine chromosome 3, termed Cdcs1, …

… to further progress will need to be overcome, the successes of the past 2 years suggest that
a detailed description of the genetic basis of inflammatory bowel disease is a realistic goal. …

… ) using genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) chips were published in
2005.1, 2 The conceptual basis of GWAS is that most complex (ie, not single-gene Mendelian) …

… of disease heterogeneity, however, is incomplete: this has contributed to the difficulty in
defining the genetic basis of inflammatory bowel disease. Evidence for genetic predisposition A …

Recent studies have greatly improved our insight into the genetic background of inflammatory
bowel disease ( IBD ). New high‐throughput technologies and large‐scale international …

… Here, recent progress made in understanding the genetic basis of inflammatory bowel
disease is reviewed, with particular reference to work carried out in Oxford. These studies have …