A Familial Occurrence of Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis

A family in which the eldest male sibling suffered from Crohn's disease and a brother and sister suffered from ulcerative colitis was reqorted. The 35-year-old male and 33-year-old female underwent surgery, while the 29-year-old male was treated conservatively. HLA typing of the older brother with Crohn's disease was A2, A24, B59, B61, Cw1, Cw3, and DR4. The HLA typing of the two siblings with ulcerative colitis was very similar, with A2, A24, B52, B61, Cw3, and DR2. The HLA typing in our cases demonstrated that DR4 was specific to Crohn's disease, while B52 and DR2 were specific to ulcerative colitis. However, in this and 5 other reported cases of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis analyzed using HLA typing, a correlation between the development of the disease and the HLA typing has been found. It was suggested that further analysis of genetic factors should be carried out to clarify the pathogenesis of the disease.