ORLANDO, FLA. — NOD2 gene variants in children with Crohn's disease appear to predict disease onset in the first decade of life, James Markowitz, M.D., reported at the annual meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology.
Of 102 children aged 16 years or younger with newly diagnosed Crohn's disease, 38 had one or more NOD2 mutations. Similar frequencies of serologic markers for inflammatory bowel disease were found in those with and without NOD2 mutations, but 50% of the subjects with NOD2 mutations were aged 10 or younger at diagnosis, compared with 20% of those with wild-type alleles, said Dr. Markowitz, professor of pediatrics at New York University, New York.
At diagnosis there were no detectable differences in disease activity as measured by pediatric Crohn's Disease Activity Index, or in rates of growth failure, poor weight gain, extraintestinal disease manifestations, or infliximab and steroid use within 30 days after diagnosis in those with and without NOD2 mutations.
There did, however, appear to be important racial differences in the presence of NOD2 mutations: Whites comprised 86% of the study population, but they comprised 97% of the study population with NOD2 mutations, he noted.