Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis, Genetic Susceptibility to Crohn's Disease, and Sardinians: the Way Ahead

Thepresent study was performed to determine what proportion of people inSardinia with or without Crohn's disease were infected withMycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis andhad a preponderance of allelic variants of Nod2, an intracellularprotein involved in Crohn's disease susceptibility. Genetic analysis ofthe alleles of the NOD2/CARD15 gene (insC3020,G908R, and R702W alleles), linked to susceptibility orgenetic predisposition to Crohn's disease in humans, wascarried out on specimens from 37 Crohn's disease patients and 34patients without Crohn's disease. Our results show that more than 70percent of people in Sardinia with Crohn's disease carry at least oneof the susceptibility-associated NOD2/CARD15 alleles andwere infected with Mycobacterium avium subspeciesparatuberculosis.