Intestinal permeability is increased in unaffected 1st degree relatives of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and is considered a risk factor for the development of IBD, likely increasing the interactions between intestinal microorganisms and the immune system. We recently reported that C1orf106, a gene located within a genomic region associated with IBD, regulates epithelial permeability. We further demonstrated that a rare coding variant within C1orf106 (p.Y333F) decreases protein stability and that lower levels of C1orf106 protein leads altered stability of adherens junctions (AJ) and to an increase in epithelial permeability.