Among them, the Solute Carrier family 11 member A1 (SLC11A1) has been implicated with susceptibility to infection by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP), potentially causing Crohn's disease in humans and paratuberculosis (PTB) in ruminants.
Although SLC11A1 was not associated with IBD, association with MAP suggests that SLC11A1 is important in determining susceptibility to bacteria implicated in the etiology of CD.
The -237C-->T promoter polymorphism of the SLC11A1 gene is associated with a protective effect in relation to inflammatory bowel disease in the South African population.
This study did not provide compelling evidence for SLC11A1 disease association; most significantly, there was no apparent evidence of SLC11A1 promoter allele association in the studied Crohn's disease population.
SLC11A1 regulates macrophage functions that are of potential importance in the induction and/or maintenance of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, type I diabetes and Crohn's disease.
We studied markers in the genes for NRAMP1 and two mutations in the interferon-gamma receptor in relation to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in the following groups: 270 healthy individuals, 74 patients with Crohn's disease, 72 patients with ulcerative colitis, and 40 patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis.