A relationship has been reported between complicated diverticulitis and a single nuclear polymorphism in theTFNSF15 gene, a T-cell maturation receptor gene associated with other colonic inflammatory diseases52, and between early onset diverticulitis or unrelated sporadic diverticulitis and variants in the laminin β4 gene (LAMB4), which codes for constituents of the extracellular matrix that regulate the function of the enteric nervous system53. The gene discussed is LAMB4; the disease is diverticulitis.