Study illuminates how patients with variants in the PTPN2 gene develop IBD

Inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD, describes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, two chronic diseases that cause inflammation in the intestines. IBD, which affects about 3 million adults in the United States, is an autoimmune disorder -; a condition in which the body’s immune system attacks healthy tissues. Its symptoms include diarrhea, rectal bleeding, fatigue, weight loss, and stomach cramps.

The intestinal epithelium, made up of a layer of cells that lines the intestine, plays an important role in IBD because it can be easily disrupted during gut inflammation. A…