Genome-wide association studies have identified several genes implicated in autophagy (ATG16L1, IRGM, ULK1, LRRK2, and MTMR3), intracellular bacterial sensing (NOD2), and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress (XBP1 and ORMDL3) to be associated with Crohn disease (CD). We studied the known CD-associated variants in these genes in a large cohort of 3451 individuals (1744 CD patients, 793 ulcerative colitis (UC) patients and 914 healthy controls). We also investigated the functional phenotype linked to these genetic variants. Association with CD was confirmed for NOD2, ATG16L1, IRGM, MTMR3, and ORMDL3. The risk for developing CD increased with an increasing number of risk alleles for these genes (P<0.001, OR 1.26 [1.20 to 1.32]). Three times as many (34.8%) CD patients carried a risk allele in all three pathways, in contrast to 13.3% of the controls (P<0.0001, OR = 3.46 [2.77 to 4.32]). For UC, no significant association for one single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) was found, but the risk for development of UC increased with an increasing total number of risk alleles (P = 0.001, OR = 1.10 [1.04 to 1.17]). We found a genetic interaction between reference SNP (rs)2241880 (ATG16L1) and rs10065172 (IRGM) in CD. Functional experiments hinted toward an association between an increased genetic risk and an augmented inflammatory status, highlighting the relevance of the genetic findings.
Keywords: Crohn disease; ER stress; autophagy; genetic interaction; ulcerative colitis.