IL23R R381Q and ATG16L1 T300A are strongly associated with Crohn's disease in a study of New Zealand Caucasians with inflammatory bowel disease

OBJECTIVE: Recently, separate genome-wide association analyses have identified nonsynonymous SNPs in IL23R and ATG16L1 (rs11209026; c1142G > A, R381Q, and rs2241880; c1338A > G, T300A, respectively) as strong candidate susceptibility factors for Crohn's disease (CD) in whites. The aim of our study was to test whether these SNPs are associated with CD in a population-based cohort of New Zealand Caucasian inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients. METHODS: Allele frequencies of rs11209026 and rs2241880 were determined in 496 CD patients, 466 ulcerative colitis (UC) patients, and 591 controls. Distribution of the relevant alleles was compared between controls and IBD patients. rs11209026 and rs2241880 genotype distributions were examined both within IBD clinical subphenotypes and CARD15 genotypes. RESULTS: rs11209026 and rs2241880 were both associated with CD (P value(rs11209026) = 0.0026, OR 0.54, 95% CI 0.36-0.81; P value(rs2241880) = 0.0001, OR 1.41, 95% CI 1.18-1.67). In addition, there was evidence for association of rs11209026 with UC (P value = 0.037, OR 0.66, 95% CI 0.45-0.98). No significant association was observed between IL23R genotype or ATG16L1 genotype and IBD subphenotypes. IL23R was associated with CD and UC only in the absence of CARD15 mutations, whereas ATG16L1 was associated with CD in the presence and absence of CARD15 mutations. CONCLUSIONS: We replicated the previously reported associations between CD and rs11209026 and rs2241880, confirming that IL23R and ATG16L1 are susceptibility loci for CD in the New Zealand population. We also provide further evidence for association of rs11209026 with UC and a report of an additive effect between IL23R and CARD15 genotypes in CD.