More recent studies have identified four further CD-susceptibility loci, all of which are strongly replicated in the present study. The association between CD and SNPs within IL23R (interleukin 23 receptor)63 is here represented by a cluster of associated SNPs, including rs11805303 (P=6.5×10-13). The strongest signal for CD in the present scan (at rs10210302; P=7.1×10-14) maps to the ATG16L1 (ATG16 autophagy related 16-like 1) gene and is in strong linkage disequilibrium (r2=0.97) with a non-synonymous SNP (T300A, rs2241880) associated with CD in a German non-synonymous SNP scan64. The third is a locus at chromosome 10q21 around rs10761659 (P=2.7×10-7) and represents a non-coding intergenic SnP mapping 14-kb telomeric to gene ZNF365 and 55-kb centromeric to the pseudogene antiquitin-like 4—a recently detected signal65. Finally, strong association with a cluster of SNPs around rs17234657 (P=2.1×10-13) within a 1.2 Mb gene desert on chromosome 5p13.1, recapitulates the finding of a recent GWA study66.
