According to researchers in the UK, genetic defects responsible for a leaky gut are the main cause of the disorder known as inflammatory disorder ulcerative colitis, which causes rectum and colon ulceration, though its exact cause cannot be pinned down, yet.

The latest Nature Genetics study based on gene analysis of 12,700-people, and which compared the genomes of 4,700-people with the condition to those of 8,000 healthy people, linked the disorder to four genes, all of which play a significant role in keeping the intestine lining healthy.

Ulcerative colitis, which affects approximately 1 in 1,000-people, is a life-long, incurable condition causing diarrhea, fever, abdominal pain and swelling and weight loss.

Highlighting variants in three regions of the genome that appeared to raise the risk of the condition, researchers zeroed in on four genes i.e. LAMB1, CDH1, CDH3 and HNF4A, responsible for keeping the epithelium or the lining of the intestine working, affecting the seals at the junctions between the cells of the epithelium.

There are a huge number of bacteria in the gut, which not only keep the gut healthy, they also play a key role in the digestive process. However, a defective epithelium allows these bacteria to leak into the intestinal walls, triggering an immune reaction that results in prolonged inflammation.

Believed by many experts to be one of the causes of ulcerative colitis, latest research provides evidences a genetic basis to the theory.

CDH1, one of the genes highlighted in the research has also been implicated in the spread of colon cancer, suggesting a genetic link between the two conditions.