Research in Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), together known as the inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), has truly seen a revolution in the last 5-10 years. This book examines how these genetic discoveries have led to the identification of biological functions not previously associated with IBD pathophysiology (e.g. autophagy), how multiple genetic risk factors for IBD converge on given biological functions and that together the identified variants in these genes have predisposing and protective roles (e.g. the multiple variants in the receptor for the IL23 cytokine and its signaling cascade), and how having such a large number of known genetic risk factors has changed our understanding not only about the genetic and molecular overlap between CD and UC, but also between these diseases and other chronic inflammatory diseases (e.g. psoriasis, multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes and many others).

Research in Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), together known as the inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), has truly seen a revolution in the last 5-10 years. This book examines how these genetic discoveries have led to the identification of biological functions not previously associated with IBD pathophysiology (e.g. autophagy), how multiple genetic risk factors for IBD converge on given biological functions and that together the identified variants in these genes have predisposing and protective roles (e.g. the multiple variants in the receptor for the IL23 cytokine and its signaling cascade), and how having such a large number of known genetic risk factors has changed our understanding not only about the genetic and molecular overlap between CD and UC, but also between these diseases and other chronic inflammatory diseases (e.g. psoriasis,  multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes and many others).

Part 1: The Foundation of IBD Genetics, Human and Animal Studies.- A Primer on IBD: Phenotypes, Diagnosis, Treatment and Clinical Challenges.- Genetic Epidemiology of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Early Twin and Family Studies.- Insights from Recent Advances in Animal Models of Inflammatory Bowel Disease.- Part Two: The Genetic and Molecular Makeup of Inflammatory Bowel Disease.- Complex Disease Genes and their Discovery.- The Genetics of Crohn's Disease.- Genetics of Ulcerative Colitis.- Genetic Overlap between Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Other Diseases.- Molecular Profiling of IBD Subtypes/Response to Therapy.- Epigenetics of Inflammatory Bowel Disease.- Part 3: Pathogenetic Pathways in Inflammatory Bowel Disease.- Nod1 and Nod2 and the Immune Response to Bacteria.- The IL-23-Th17 Axis in Intestinal Inflammation.- Inflammatory Bowel Disease at the Intersection of Autophagy and Immunity: Insights from Human Genetics.- The Epithelial Barrier.- Host Interactions with Bacteria: From “Entente Cordiale” to “Casus Belli”.- Cytokines in Inflammatory Bowel Disease.- Part 4: Concluding Remarks and Future Perspectives.- Towards Personalized Therapy in Inflammatory Bowel Disease.- Index.