CASP10 and inflammatory bowel disease: In addition, mutations in the caspase 10 gene lead to the breakdown of lymphocyte homeostasis and the development of autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome.[48] As the apoptosis of activated T cells is an important mechanism of peripheral immune tolerance and a defect in apoptosis of mucosal T cells is an important contributing factor in the pathogenesis of IBD,[49] caspase-encoding genes are attractive candidates, but further studies are needed to pinpoint the causal polymorphism.