Paneth Cell Defect and Genetic Factors

Example 2

We correlated the degree of Paneth cell defect (percentage of Paneth cells with normal morphology) with numbers of ATG16L1 T300A or NOD2 risk alleles. As shown in FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B, neither the numbers of risk alleles of ATG16L1 T300A nor NOD2 correlated with Paneth cell phenotype. Likewise, neither the sum total of ATG16L1 T300A nor NOD2 risk alleles correlated with Paneth cell phenotype (FIG. 8C). This suggests that in this population of pediatric CD patients, environmental factor(s) may play a more significant role in modulating Paneth cell function.