Low prevalence of NOD2 SNPs in Behçet's disease suggests protective association in Caucasians.

Objective: It has been shown previously that three nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain containing 2 (NOD2) variants (Arg702Trp, Gly908Arg and Lue1007fs) are associated with Crohn's disease (CD), a disorder clinically resembling Behçet's disease (BD). We studied the frequency of these variants in BD patients.

Methods: DNA samples of 200 BD patients [59 Caucasians, 139 Middle Easterns (MEs) of Arab descent and 2 Asians] and 520 healthy controls (444 Caucasians and 76 MEs) were genotyped using a Taqman assay.