Published online Jun 21, 2006. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v12.i23.3651
Revised: March 28, 2006
Accepted: April 16, 2006
Published online: June 21, 2006
In 2004, an association of genetic variation in the discs large homolog 5 (DLG5) gene with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) was described in two large European study samples. The initial report of DLG5 as a novel IBD susceptibility gene sparked a multitude of studies investigating its effect on CD and IBD, respectively, leading to controversial findings and ongoing discussions concerning the validity of the initial association finding and its role in the aetiology of Crohn disease. This review aims to summarize the current state of knowledge and to place the reported findings in the context of current concepts of complex diseases. This includes aspects of statistical power, phenotype differences and genetic heterogeneity between different populations as well as gene-gene and gene-environment interactions.