Scientists Find Gene Target That May Protect Against Crohn's Disease And Ulcerative Colitis
Montreal, October 26, 2006 ?The discovery by a six-member Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Genetics Consortium of a genetic risk factor for IBD has been reported in Science Express, the online publication of the journal Science. According to one of the Canadian principal investigators, director of the Laboratory in Genetics and Genomic Medicine of Inflammation at the Montreal Heart Institute, Dr. John D. Rioux, "This discovery may lead to a paradigm shift in our thinking from 'genetics of diseases to genetics of health', particularly as concerns Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis." This discovery was, in part, due to the contributions of the gastroenterologists of the Quebec IBD Genetics Consortium led by Dr. Rioux and Dr. Alain Bitton of the McGill University Health Centre.