Family History & Patterns of Inheritance

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Momto2girls

Momto2girls

Joined
May 18, 2012
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313
So, my husband's grandmother was just admitted to the hospital today with Ulcerative Colitis. It got me to thinking about the family history with IBD, and wondering if I could find any research on family genetics.

Both my husband and I are Ashkenazi Jews (Eastern-European) and from what I've been able to read, that means Gracie is at least 4 times more likely to get some form of IBD. (I knew it was common amongst the Jewish population, but I had no idea it was to that extent. I have 3 friends IRL who have children with Crohn's and they are all Jewish).

Also, my husband's grandma has UC, but none of her children have it. But, her granddaughter, my husband's first cousin, has UC.

And, my FIL had UC (he was on Remicadee when he passed away -- from something else), but my husband doesn't have it, and his brother doesn't have it, but it looks like Gracie probably has some form of IBD.

So that is two examples in our family of it skipping a generation? Does anyone else with a family history have skipping like that? Now, my brother has Crohn's but my dad didn't develop microscopic colitis until his 60s. So, I am thinking that's different. I don't have it...and his kids are still very young. (Although he has a daughter same age as Gracie who is fine...knock wood!!!!)

So, would you say between our ancestry & family history, Gracie's chances keep going up exponentially? Because once I got to thinking about this I was getting kind of panicky. :(

Anyway, I am curious to hear about other family history if anyone wants to share!! Thanks!
 
There seems to be 'some' family connection with my son, Stephen, and crohns but it's a bit grey...

My mother's cousin has crohns, diagnosed when she was in her 50s. She is the only person in my side of the family who has had any problems with crohns/UC (or any other auto-immune disease). But, her father was a 'mystery man' (unknown) and she always assumed that if it was genetic, she inherited it from his side of the family.

My husband's niece (his brother's daughter aka Stephen's cousin) has UC, however, my husbands SIL (so no blood relation) has crohns/UC in her family - so that would be a connection for the niece but not for Stephen.

As far as we know, there are no other auto-immune diseases in his family either.
 
Interesting Tesscorm! I am SO curious about this now. I guess your mother's cousin is a pretty far off relative? But it is someone...I wonder if that's where it came from?

It is interesting, the Ashkenazie population has a few different genetic issues so my husband and I did a genetic panel before we had kids. We didn't carry any of the biggies: CF, Tay sachs, but I am pretty sure IBD was not tested at the time. I think it was about a year ago they narrowed down on several genes, but it still isn't isolated, from what I understand from what I've read.
 
To my knowledge, no hx of IBD on either side. Although, things that my hubby has remarked are "normal, occassionally" such as mucousy poop are SO far out of my range of "normal" that I suspect he has a little touch of something going on too, but hasn't ever had symptoms bad enough to be checked out.
 
Yeah, my mother's cousin (Stephen's grandmother's cousin) does seem to be a far off connection??? But, there is no doubt that there is a genetic component in Crohns - may not be for everyone but it is certainly there for many.

I think environmental factors play as big role as genetics. My husband has had a 'best' friend since they were three years old, grew up on the same street, same culture, same foods, schools, etc. Even since marriage, we live in relatively close neighbourhoods and their daughter was also diagnosed with crohns two years before Stephen! Did something in the environment affect my husband's and his friend's genes that were passed on to our kids? Or is it something in the current environment that has affected Stephen and their daughter?? Interestingly, and this could be genetic or environmental, this friend's nephew was just diagnosed with UC (the mom is sister to my husband's friend and grew up on the same street, etc.)

Stephen has a friend who seems to have LOTS of crohns type systems (for close to a year now) - weight loss, diarrhea, fatigue, pain, etc. but he refuses to pursue a real diagnosis (I imagine he's afraid of what it'll mean...). His parents have tried to get him to go further than the GP but he refuses to go to a GI or emergency but he keeps saying it's a bug he's fighting. There's absolutely no relation to Stephen but these boys did grow up together, same neighbourhood, same activities, etc.???

There are so many variables!!!

MLP or Dusty posted a link to a presentation that I found quite interesting. Here is a link to the presentation - if the link doesn't work, I've also attached the link to the thread where you'll find the info.


*Podcast Sylviane Forget: Crohn’s Disease in Canada: Environment or Genetics?
http://podcasts.mcgill.ca/health-2/s...t-or-genetics/


http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=43002
 
there is genetic predisposition.
which means many people will carry the gene (s) in this case but only a few will actually have crohn's.
I think there were over 20 different genes last count.

One thing to keep in mind the genetic differences has not been seen between adults how get the disease and adolescents.

recently there was a difference seen between the genotype for the 5-10 year old crowd for some reason and not in a good way.

children dx before the age of 5 had the best chance out of all the population. no real explanation either on this one either.

you do not need a family history of IBD per say the genes are believed to be similar to autoimmune diseases so if you have that then there you go.....
just like food allergies - do not have a family history of food allergies per say but allergic disease (atopy) in general ;)
 
Yes, I asked for MLP for Christmas but my hubby said it's to expensive :(to kidnap her in all.:rof:


my little penguin said:
children dx before the age of 5 had the best chance out of all the population. no real explanation either on this one either.
QUOTE]

^^
:dance:So that's good! RIGHT MLP!:dance:
Click to expand...
 
That's right,,the fan club for MLP. I think I'll make that a permanent link in my Sig.:tongue:
 
children dx before the age of 5 had the best chance out of all the population.

MLP -- the best chance for what? I am confused...

Gracie is 5 in 9 days...hmmmm...wonder what this will all mean for her?

Tessacorm -- I will have to go look at that presentation. It is interesting b/c one friend whose son has Crohn's does live about 7 doors down from us. She grew up very near me and her husband grew up very near my husband. Go figure!?

I still go back to Gracie's anaphylaxis being her trigger for all of this. I swear before that she was totally normal. But obviously genes are not on her side.
 
CONCLUSIONS
The 6–17 yr of age patients with CD appear to have a more complicated disease course compared to 0–5 yr of age children. The 0–5 yr of age group may represent a unique disease phenotype and benefit from different approaches to management. Long-term prospective studies are required to validate these findings.
Click to expand...

From
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3258513/


Ok I feel better now found it
:biggrin:
 
No one else in our family has Crohns but I have type 1 diabetes, underactive thyroid and coeliacs and my Mum has underactive thyroid and Vasculitis. We obviously have a clear line of autoimmune illnesses!! No evidence of anyone else though, just me and Mum!

I do worry what else might come Joseph's way over the coming years........

Xxxx
 
My hubby is adopted so we have no clue if there is anyone else in his family. When Jack started having issues that was the first thing they tested for since "dad has it".
I have heard that about the Ashkenazi Jews, we've always kind of wondered about hubby as for what we've been told is he is Eastern European ancestry.
I always find genetics fascinating. Now I'm about 1/4 American Indian although you would never know by looking at me, my brother got all that lovely copper skin, I got pale and freckles. But lactose intolerance is more prevelant in native american population. If you go by my family you could certainly see that - My great grandfather (full blood), my grandmother (full blood), my mother (1/2), myself and my younger son are all lactose intolerant.
 
Interesting to think about. Jae is the first one diagnosed in our family, but my mother had chronic diarrhea issues that were never worked up. I and one of Jae's sisters and Jae have gluten intolerance (not celiac). I'm convinced that Jae probably had her gene "turned on" after a bad case of rotavirus at age 11 months. It was after that her growth took a dive and she was first diagnosed with failure to thrive. Her pediatric GI failed to work her up for crohn's although she had chronic tummy aches, GERD and loose stools even at that young age... I think that fits with the "less severe type" theory of those diagnosed at age <6. She wasn't diagnosed, but I'm thinking that is when hers started. If it was a more severe case, she would have had to be treated before now... We just spent 12 years, instead, trying to stand on our heads to get this child to eat!
 
I have a niece with Crohn's and my husband has a first cousin with Ulcerative Colitis.
It's the family history of this that has made us wonder about whether IBD might be the explanation for Liam's symptoms. However we are in wait and see mode in terms of trying to figure out what the issues are with him.
 
This is a very interesting discussion. I am very interested in genetics in general. I have a cousin who has UC. No one with crohns. My husband has undiagnosed stomach issues his whole life. He has had every test in the book but no answers. Our doctor in Missouri said he thinks he has leaky gut syndrome which I understand can be kind of linked to IBD. One interesting thing, when I worked in health care I saw many patients who had Crohn's disease or UC. I always spoke with them about it and one thing kept comming up was that they had one parent who had had " stomach issues" their whole life but were never diagnosed with anything. I know this whole leaky gut syndrome is a new thing that is being diagnosed, maybe a lot of those parents have it and their kids then develop IBD.

Here is some info about it:
http://www.ulcer-cure.com/Other_Disorders/leaky-gut-syndrome.php
 
As I college student majoring in biology, I have been thinking about the genetics of Crohn's a lot lately. My mother has a mild form of arthritis and my grandmother on my father's side has a mild form of MS. I know that multiple genes play a role in the development of most auto-immune diseases, but I am most interested in why some of the same gene variants can cause disease in different areas of the body. For example, why did I end up with a more severe case of Crohn's where my mom and grandmother had mild arthritis and MS respectively. I am starting to think that the difference may be environmentally related (I grew up as a 90s kid with plenty of processed food and a very sanitary lifestyle), or it could be something to do with the different combinations of gene variants. Hmmm....Interesting stuff to think about. One day I'll have it figured out! :D
 
I definitely think you are on to something! I made a "family ailment chart" for our pediatric GI doc a little while back. We had run out of treatment options and I thought that if he could see a "bigger" family picture it might generate some ideas. Ultimately, since we have both Multiple Sclerosis and Psoriasis in our family...there is a better than fair chance that Tysabri and Stelara could prove effective for my son.

He had anti bodies that made him more prone to the PML associated with Tysabri. So, that was a no-go.

He just started Stelara. Time will tell how well it will work for us.
 
Kim, interesting about 'stomach issues' with parents... my husband has ALWAYS had stomach issues! No inflammation that we know of, no chronic diarrhea or constipation, etc. but, certain foods or stress will cause stomach pains for him and it sometimes can take days to completely disappear. For the most part, he just avoids lots of deepfried foods, limits acidy foods, etc. He takes nexium daily and finds a noticeable difference if he skips it.

His brother (Stephen's uncle) has serious acid reflux issues. Not sure if his problem had a 'name' but he had such severe acid reflux issues his entire life that it eventually resulted in having his esophagus removed! They had to 'create' an esophagus by stretching his stomach to reach what was left of his esophagus.

Intially, when Stephen started showing symptoms, we thought he'd just inherited their sensitive stomach issues... :(
 
Savannah is the only one in either side of her family with IBD so not sure genetics played any role in her case. Enviromental maybe one of our neighbors has Crohn's.
Savannah also had the Rotavirus when she was 18 months old. Her symptoms for IBD started around the age 5. She is 10 now.
 
Hey ladies and gents , this thread has my full a attention , so here goes my question , Lewis has chron s , my daughter has psoriasis (?crohns ? Under investigation ,) and I have degenerative discs in my spine athritis in my cervical spine , knee and elbows I'm 30 there is defiantly a pattern here, my mum and brother both have oesteo athritis ,
A doctor I saw once told me we should be checked for the link between all me and the kids but when ever I broach the subject with my gp they say it wouldn't be down to them as there Aren't specific tests for them to check each disease is there a specific test to check for the likelyhood of some diseases and if we are more prone to getting one or the other .
What should I be asking for and who is the specialist that would look into these

Thank u ladies .xx
 
We thought Alex was first, but asking around after dx and one of my husband's first cousins was also recently dx'ed (20s adult). Both my husband and I have had some IBS and nasal allergies. Genetics determines susceptibility, but it's not the whole picture, environment and some trigger is also needed. It's a bit hard to digest without the talk to go with it, but this was a really interesting talk I saw at a CCFA education symposium last year:
http://online.ccfa.org/site/DocServer/SD2012ConferenceSlides_IBD-Genetics.pdf?docID=20883

The most fascinating thing to me is that docs are considering classifying and targeting specific types of IBD based on genes.
 
Lewis's Mum- I think what you are describing is a genetic counselor. I don't know if there are any genetic counselors that specialize in IBD and related diseases because IBD generally isn't considered to be a "genetic disease". However, they may exist and they should be able to tell you which diseases are genetically connected and what the chances of each of you having a disease is. There really is no exact test for the genetics of each of the diseases you mentioned because the genes involved aren't fully known. However, the counselor should be able to answer some of your questions.
 
Outside of my children the only family member, I am aware of, that has Crohn's is my partner's first cousin.

When Sarah was diagnosed and I started trying to find reasons why, I eventually came to the conclusion that it was likely equal parts of genetics, environment and a specific trigger...a bit like the perfect storm.

Than my son was diagnosed and my thoughts changed. I must say here that this is only my personal experience. Although their individual journey's were different they both have Crohn's in exactly the same area (terminal ileum), it's progression was the same, it's outcome was the same. Then one of the Crohn's specialists said to me, he only had one other patient whose disease was exactly mirrored in other family members, that being a Mother and her two daughters. I have thought long and hard about this and I am really hard pushed not to think that in our case genetics plays are very large role in my children developing the disease. There are just too many similarities.

Although the cousin with CD has never required surgery her disease is also confined to the terminal ileum.

Dusty. xxx
 
Dusty,
That is interesting! I have a friend who is studying genetics and crohns. He is helping to map the genes in IBD.it is very interesting work.
 
We have absolutely no family history of IBD, Crohns or any other autoimmune disease so totally a surprise for us when my son was diagnosed.
I've always been curious if we (the rest of the family) have the same Crohns genes as our son but somehow we never were exposed to the 'trigger' so never developed the disease.
My daughter has begun participating in the 'GEM Project' through CCFC - it stands for 'genes, environment, microbiology'. They take blood/stood/urine samples from healthy first degree siblings of Crohns patients, also ask them questions around environment/lifestyle and then follow them to see who develops crohns and who doesn't. I hope my daughter is always on the 'no crohns' side but both kids both agreed that anything that would help figure out causes would be great - especially for future generations (like their kids, if they have any, as they would be at higher risk).
 
S moms that is great that your kids are participating in that study. It would be great if they figure out a way to prevent crohns. Caitlyn tells me she is afraid to have children because she doesn't want them to have Crohn's disease. :( I told her I understand her worry but hopefully they will find a cure by then.
 
We have no family history of IBD ...that's why i found it so hard to accept that my daughter had crohns.
 
When L was diagnosed, all the skeletons started coming out if the closet in our family!

L was dx with Crohns and Celiac at the same time. My mother's sister has colitis and my husband's sister also has colitis. I have many cousins on my dad's side of the family that have gastro issues and my dear brother-in-laws are always sharing their bathroom stories - usually at the dinner table - much to my son's amusement. The unfortunate part is that no one ever sees a doctor about their troubles. If an 8 year old can handle a colonoscopy just fine...
 
Mehita said:
When L was diagnosed, all the skeletons started coming out if the closet in our family!

L was dx with Crohns and Celiac at the same time. My mother's sister has colitis and my husband's sister also has colitis. I have many cousins on my dad's side of the family that have gastro issues and my dear brother-in-laws are always sharing their bathroom stories - usually at the dinner table - much to my son's amusement. The unfortunate part is that no one ever sees a doctor about their troubles. If an 8 year old can handle a colonoscopy just fine...
Click to expand...

Amen to that! My guy has had more scopes (top and bottom) than all of the grown-ups in our family combined!

Only one person in our family has IBD, but my son's dx of Crohn's had made us take a good look at the bigger picture. There an assortment of other auto-immune and inflammatory issues though. So, best we can figure is that the "genes" are there, it's just a roll of the dice as to how it manifests in each person: psoriasis, arthritis, vitiligo, asthma, colitis, crohn's, etc...
 

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