Identification of genetic susceptibility loci for Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, and primary sclerosing cholangitis

Coordinator:		Prof. Dr. Andre Franke
Institution:		Institut für Klinische Molekularbiologie
Homepage:		www.inflammation-at-interfaces.de/

The subprojects GP1 and GP7 aim to identify genetic susceptibility loci for Crohn's disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC), and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). Besides obtaining the precise location of the identified disease loci in the genome, disease genes are genetically characterized, i.e. the underlying mutations at these loci are tried to be identified. This mutation discovery is carried out using state-of-the-art sequencing technologies ("Next Generation sequencing"), which is able to decipher a complete human genome within a few days (more than three billion "letters" in one human genome). For CD, more than 30 disease loci have been reported and validated, while for UC, only a few are known. The latter applies also to the rare disease PSC. Hence, several genome-wide high-throughput screenings are carried out within this project for UC and PSC. In such a screening, the genomes of hundreds of patients and healthy controls are examined for distinctive features.
Besides improving the knowledge of the diseases under study, this project aims to make a contribution to the improvement of diagnostic and therapeutic applications.




Figure: Crohn's disease









Additional relevant Internet link:
Zentrum für Molekulare Biowissenschaften