<p>It might not be genetic but there appears to be a clear association between having inflammatory bowel disease and having a damn good sense of humor.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/IBD-IMage-.jpg" alt="IBD IMage" class="alignright size-full wp-image-21214" width="240" height="160"></p>
<p>IBD is a serious digestive disorder and is no laughing matter. The umbrella diagnosis includes both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis and affects an estimated 1.4 million people in the United States alone. There are very few treatments for the condition, and the sometimes very painful symptoms can leave those with IBD feeling embarrassed, isolated and alone.</p>
<p>But looking at some great blogs by people with the condition, it’s easy to see that having a good sense of humor certainly helps get you through the hard times. How can you not at least crack a smile at titles like “<a href="http://crohns-leavingtheseatdown.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Leaving the Seat Down</a>”, or “Blood, Poop &amp; Tears?” By writing about the condition and its symptoms with sometimes blunt humor, these bloggers are going a long way toward removing any stigma around the disease.</p>
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 300px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;"><strong>Eligible Individuals</strong><br />
1. You have been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis by a qualified physician.<br />
2. Your willingness to submit a saliva sample for DNA testing and complete online surveys related to your condition.<br />
3. You have access to the internet.<br />
4. You are at least 6 years old (those under 18 require a parental consent to enroll).<br />
5. You are not a current 23andMe customer.*<br />
6. You reside in the United States.*If you are a current 23andMe customer, learn how you can participate here.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-21220" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Learn-More-300x99.jpg" alt="Learn More" width="300" height="99" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Learn-More-300x99.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Learn-More.jpg 744w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></div>
<h6>IBD Study</h6>
<p>23andMe recently launched <a href="https://23andme.com/IBD/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a new study of IBD</a> in collaboration with Pfizer Inc. to learn more about what role genetics and environment play in the development of IBD as well as how the condition progresses.</p>
<p>Reading through blogs about individuals who struggle day to day, can also inform and motivate what we do.</p>
<h6>Recommended Reading</h6>
<p>This is by no means a comprehensive list, but here are some of the IBD blogs that made us want to read more.</p>
<p>&#8211; <a href="http://www.inflamed-and-untamed.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Inflamed and Untamed</a> – Blogging since 2008, Sara Ringer mixes girl power, fashion and her own poignant personal struggles – including having her large intestine removed – all while advocating for others with IBD.</p>
<p>&#8211; Blood, Poop &amp; Tears – Like a lot of good IBD bloggers, Jackie is both blunt and funny. In her 20s, she’s been blogging since 2010 about her own struggles with ulcerative colitis.</p>
<p>&#8211; <a href="http://crohns-leavingtheseatdown.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Leaving the Seat Down</a> – Living with Crohn’s since 1988, Vern is an IBD veteran. A former competitive figure skater and soccer player living in British Columbia, Vern also paints and is known for his Crohnie adages:<br />
<em>“If you hold the world record for the amount of times going to the bathroom in an hour; you might be a Crohnie.”</em></p>
<p>&#8211; <a href="http://intenseintestines.wordpress.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Intense Intestines Blog</a> – Brian Greenberg is both a blogger and the founder of the Intense Intestines Foundation. He has also been dealing with his own Crohn&#8217;s diagnosis since he was just a kid.</p>
<p>&#8211; <a href="http://www.jpouch.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">J-pouch Life</a> – With a more somber but measured tone, this blog collects stories from people who have gone through surgery or are considering going through surgery to remove their colon. This site has become a great resource for people struggling with determining their best option. It’s a serious decision and the site neither makes light of it nor overly dramatizes it.</p>
<p>&#8211; <a href="http://www.brightsideofcrohns.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Bright Side of Crohn&#8217;s</a> – You’ve got to give it up to any blogger referencing, knowingly or not, Eric Idle’s comedy song “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.” But Canadian blogger “Brightside,” is a working mom who writes to stay positive.</p>
<p>&#8211; The Great Bowel Movement – The tagline for this blog is “making Crohn’s and Colitis cool since 2010.” The posts on this blog run the gambit from fitness, nutrition to the latest in drug treatments and other interventions.</p>

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

Gut Check – A Short List of IBD Blogs

<p>Since announcing our new study on Inflammatory Bowel Disease, we’ve received questions not just about the study, but about the disease itself.</p>
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 240px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;"><strong>Eligible Individuals</strong><br />
1. You have been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis by a qualified physician.<br />
2. Your willingness to submit a saliva sample for DNA testing and complete online surveys related to your condition.<br />
3. You have access to the internet.<br />
4. You are at least 6 years old (those under 18 require a parental consent to enroll).<br />
5. You are not a current 23andMe customer.*<br />
6. You reside in the United States.*If you are a current 23andMe customer, learn how you can participate here.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-21220" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Learn-More-300x99.jpg" alt="Learn More" width="300" height="99" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Learn-More-300x99.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Learn-More.jpg 744w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></div>
<p>IBD – which includes both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis – is often difficult to diagnose. The symptoms can sometimes be confused with other conditions.</p>
<p>The symptoms can also come and go making arriving at an accurate diagnosis very difficult.</p>
<p>Recently, Dr. Jennifer Choi, the Associate Director of UCLA’s Center for IBD, gave a detailed talk on the condition. Neither Dr. Choi nor the UCLA Center is involved with 23andMe’s study, but they are a great resource for information about the condition.</p>
<p>While the video of that presentation is long, and is sometimes graphic, Dr. Choi very clearly explains everything from the anatomy involved to the differences between Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis.</p>
<p>It’s a helpful primer both for those who have the condition and people who care about them, who are trying to understand what they are going through.</p>
<p>We’ve included the video below, but be forewarned that there are some graphic photos in the presentation that may be disturbing for some.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe loading="lazy" width="300" height="169" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/vJ-nLpAFHd8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>


More On Inflammatory Bowel Disease

<p>Last week, 23andMe launched a new research initiative to study <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/l_smarr_2x-221x300.jpg" alt="l_smarr_2x" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-21362" width="221" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/l_smarr_2x-221x300.jpg 221w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/l_smarr_2x.jpg 314w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 221px) 100vw, 221px" /></p>
<p>Along with collaborating with Pfizer on the study, 23andMe has also enlisted the help of five scientific advisors, who each bring deep expertise that will assist our scientists in analyzing data and developing surveys for the study.
</p>
<p>
One of those advisors, <a href="http://lsmarr.calit2.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Larry Smarr</a>, PhD, who is the founding director of the California Institute of Telecommunications and Information Technolgy (Cali2), said this study could illustrate the power of the 23andMe research model.
</p>
<p>
“I believe that a more accurate stratification of IBD disease states will result from classifying based on combinations of (genetic markers) than on symptoms,” said Larry. “23andme is the best way to quickly get a large number of people classified to test this hypothesis.” </p>
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 300px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;"><strong>Eligible Individuals</strong><br />
1. You have been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis by a qualified physician.<br />
2. Your willingness to submit a saliva sample for DNA testing and complete online surveys related to your condition.<br />
3. You have access to the internet.<br />
4. You are at least 6 years old (those under 18 require a parental consent to enroll).<br />
5. You are not a current 23andMe customer.*<br />
6. You reside in the United States.*If you are a current 23andMe customer, learn how you can participate here.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-21220" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Learn-More-300x99.jpg" alt="Learn More" width="300" height="99" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Learn-More-300x99.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Learn-More.jpg 744w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></div>
<h6>
 Self Tracking</h6>
<p>
Larry, who also holds the Harry E. Gruber professorship in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at UC San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering, has over the last decade tracked everything from his weight to his sleep patterns to his caloric intake. He even tracked the microbes in his stool to learn about his own health.</p>
<p>But what had started as a simple effort to track weight loss soon became a focused effort to apply all his scientific skills to manage his own health and his own struggle with what he later learned was IBD.</p>
<p>Larry said he sees huge potential in gathering together many people with IBD.</p>
<p>“The study will be successful if it results in a large number of people classified with both (genetic markers) and phenotypes,” he said. “This will immediately yield a first cut at the emerging IBD stratification landscape.”</p>
<p>
He knows why he is so interested in participating as a scientific advisor, but he also knows what might motivate someone with IBD to enroll.
</p>
<p>
“By participating in this study you will help accelerate research toward a new approach to understanding IBD,” he said. “And hopefully to creating more personalized therapy approaches.”</p>

Science Advisor, Larry Smarr

<p>For people battling <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-21215 size-large" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/IBD-Image-325x768.jpg" alt="IBD Image" width="325" height="768" /> – it’s easy to feel isolated and alone.
</p>
<p>
There currently are very few medicines to treat the condition, which affects an estimated 1.4 million people in the United States.  </p>
<p>Those with IBD often feel embarrassed by their symptoms, enduring on their own severe abdominal pain, cramping, inflammation, and diarrhea that often accompany the condition.</p>
<p>23andMe wants to change that with its <a href="https://23andme.com/IBD/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">new study of IBD</a>.</p>
<p>23andMe is collaborating with Pfizer Inc. to learn more about what role genetics and environment play in the development of IBD as well as how the condition progresses. We hope this research will give scientists new insight into the disease.</p>
<p>“We are excited to team up with Pfizer to take an innovative, consumer-centered approach to understanding the fundamentals of inflammatory bowel disease and the variability of treatment response,” said 23andMe CEO and Co-Founder, Anne Wojcicki.<br />
</p>
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 300px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;"><strong>Eligible Individuals</strong></div>
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 300px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">
1. You have been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis by a qualified physician.</div>
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 300px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">
2. Your willingness to submit a saliva sample for DNA testing and complete online surveys related to your condition.
</div>
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 300px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">3. You have access to the internet.</div>
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 300px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">
4. You are at least 6 years old (those under 18 require a parental consent to enroll).</div>
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 300px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">
5. You are not a current 23andMe customer.*</div>
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 300px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">
6. You reside in the United States.</div>
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 300px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">*If you are a current 23andMe customer, learn how you can participate here.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-21220" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Learn-More-300x99.jpg" alt="Learn More" width="300" height="99" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Learn-More-300x99.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Learn-More.jpg 744w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></div>
<p>
23andMe is using the unique research model that it developed to study other diseases. Our research model is different in that it allows people to participate from home and to do so anonymously. Traditional research often involves travel to clinics or research facilities, blood tests, and even drug trials. Because individuals can participate from home using internet access, 23andMe’s research offers people who might not be able to participate otherwise a simple and non-intrusive way to get involved in important research.</p>
<p>Our goal is to enlist 10,000 people in this effort. To those who participate we will give updates not just on the progress of our recruitment efforts but on the status of the research as well. 23andMe can’t promise that this work will lead to a cure or to new treatments but our researchers do pledge to keep participants informed of our work.
</p>
<p>
You can learn more about this research or how to participate <a href="https://www.23andme.com/ibd/">here</a>.  </p>
<p>Participants do not just help drive important research — they can also explore their own genetic information using 23andMe’s unique tools.</p>

New Study To Look At The Genetics Of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

<p style="float: right; text-align: right; width: 360;"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-full wp-image-3242" title="colon" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/colon.jpg" alt="colon" width="350" height="240" /></p>
<p>Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic autoimmune disorder encompassing Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis that affects more than a million people in the United States.</p>
<p>Our immune system usually works to fight off harmful pathogens that might pass through our digestive tract. In IBD, however, the immune system stays in overdrive and attacks normal intestinal cells. Chronic inflammation causes abdominal cramps, diarrhea, pain and fever, and weight loss.</p>
<h2>New Research</h2>
<p>Most studies of IBD have investigated genetic factors for Crohn’s disease, but a set of articles published this week in <em>Nature Genetics</em> on IBD address two less-explored angles.</p>
<p>Two studies identify new genetic associations with ulcerative colitis in European and Asian populations. The third study focuses on early-onset IBD (diagnosed before age 19), which is typically more severe than adult-onset IBD and is believed to have a more robust genetic component.</p>
<p>In a joint effort, the UK IBD Genetics Consortium and the <a href="https://www.wtccc.org.uk/ccc2/">Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium 2</a> identified <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ng.483">three genetic variants associated with ulcerative colitis</a> in 4,682 people with the condition and over 10,000 healthy individuals, all of European ancestry. These variants are located in regions of the genome that had not previously been associated with ulcerative colitis.</p>
<h2>Intestinal Lining and Cell Interaction</h2>
<p>Each of the three SNPs was associated with slightly increased odds of ulcerative colitis. The researchers highlight several proteins encoded by genes near these variants that help maintain the lining of the intestine and regulate cell-cell interactions, including HNF4a, E-cadherin, and laminin. However, their exact roles in ulcerative colitis are unclear.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ng.482">second study</a>, led by Kouichi Asano and Michiaki Kubo of the RIKEN Center for Genomic Medicine in Japan, looked for genetic variants associated with ulcerative colitis in a group of about 1,380 Japanese individuals with the disease and 3,050 individuals without it. Their two strongest associations were SNPs near genes involved in the immune response.</p>
<h2>More on Immune Response</h2>
<p>One of these SNPs is in a genome region that encodes antigen-presenting proteins, which are important for the immune system&#8217;s recognition of “self” vs. foreign substances. Antigen-presenting proteins display bits and pieces of proteins or sugars (antigens) from cells and other microorganisms to immune cells that generally ignore “self” antigens but destroy foreign ones. In autoimmune diseases like IBD, the immune system loses the ability to distinguish between the two types of antigens and mistakenly reacts to the body’s own cells.</p>
<p>The other strongly associated SNP is located in the FCGR2A gene and causes a change to the encoded protein, which is expressed on the surface of several types of immune cells. Previous studies by other groups have shown that this SNP can play a significant role in the development of other autoimmune disorders. The version of the SNP that increased risk for those other disorders is the opposite version compared to the version associated with increased risk for ulcerative colitis in the current Japanese study.</p>
<h2>Early Onset</h2>
<p>In the <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ng.489">third study</a>, a team led by Marcin Imielinski and Hakon Hakonarson of the Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia identified genetic variants associated with early-onset IBD. Almost 3,500 individuals of European ancestry who had been diagnosed with IBD — either Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis — before their nineteenth birthday were compared to close to 12,000 individuals free of IBD.</p>
<p>Imielinski’s team identified three SNPs significantly associated with early-onset Crohn’s disease. For two of the SNPs, and , the less common version was associated with slightly increased odds of early-onset Crohn’s disease, while the less common version of was associated with slightly decreased odds. They also observed an association between and early-onset ulcerative colitis.</p>
<p>When they conducted a combined analysis of all early-onset IBD cases (Crohn&#8217;s and ulcerative colitis), the researchers found that the three genetic variants associated with early-onset Crohn’s disease were also associated with early-onset IBD in general. The effect sizes were similar to those seen when they looked at just Crohn&#8217;s disease. In addition, they identified another SNP associated with early-onset IBD.</p>
<h2>Early Onset and Immune Response</h2>
<p>Of the four genetic variants associated generally with early-onset IBD, Imielinski and his colleagues consider it to be especially important given its proximity to IL27, a gene involved in the immune system. The researchers showed in a small sample that individuals with early-onset Crohn’s disease express the gene at much lower levels than healthy people. IL27 encodes a protein that suppresses inflammatory immune cells in the intestine, so lower expression of IL27 may contribute to a hyperactive inflammatory response.</p>
<p>Although the biology of IBD is complex, these three studies contribute to a more comprehensive picture of the genetic factors underlying the condition and suggest potential directions for the development of therapeutics.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is an evolving story of discovering what genes tell us about the disease,&#8221; said Dr. Baldassano from the Children’s Hospital team in a <a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-11/chop-lgs111209.php">press release</a>. &#8220;Pinpointing how specific genes act on biological pathways provides a basis for ultimately personalizing medicine to an individual&#8217;s genetic profile.&#8221;</p>

Piecing Together The Inflammatory Bowel Disease Puzzle

<p style="float: right; text-align: right; width: 310px;"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-full wp-image-1510" title="labmouse" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/labmouse.jpg" alt="labmouse" width="300" height="199"></p>
<p>Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which can appear as either ulcerative colitis or Crohn&#8217;s disease, damages the lining of the digestive tract and leads to abdominal cramps, incomplete digestion and nutritional deficiencies.</p>
<p>Previous research on IBD gave researchers reason to suspect that the CD39 gene, which is involved with inflammatory responses and immunity, may play a role in IBD. Researchers at Harvard University, led by Simon Robson, found further evidence for this gene&#8217;s involvement when they removed it from a group of mice. Compared to normal animals, the genetically engineered mice were more susceptible to a drug that causes colitis symptoms similar to those experienced by humans. The results were published this week in the <em><a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/09/28/0902869106.abstract?sid=2e91c093-2dd0-487b-908b-8f63dc01097c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a></em>.</p>
<p>With these animal model results in hand, the researchers turned their attention to humans. They searched a database of genetic information for DNA variants that are predicted to affect how much protein is made from the CD39 gene. One SNP in particular stood out. Not only did the A version of this SNP correlate with lower CD39 protein levels, but it was also associated with risk for Crohn&#8217;s disease. The researchers determined that one copy of the A version of this SNP increased the odds of Crohn&#8217;s disease by 1.14 times, while two copies increased the odds by 1.3 times.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Although the study focused only on Europeans, the authors believe their results will also be relevant to people of other ethnicities. The A version of that is associated with increased odds for Crohn&#8217;s disease in Europeans is also associated with lower levels of CD39 protein in people with African, Chinese and Japanese ancestry. The importance of this SNP may vary among ethnic groups, however, because the prevalence of the A version differs.</p>
<p>The researchers suggest that future studies will help define exactly how CD39 influences IBD and identify other SNPs that may influence risk for the disease.</p>

ulcerative colitis — Page 2

Gut Check – A Short List of IBD Blogs

More On Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Science Advisor, Larry Smarr

New Study To Look At The Genetics Of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Piecing Together The Inflammatory Bowel Disease Puzzle

Genetic Clues to Bowel Disease Found in Mice and Men

Stay in the know.