Behçet's disease (BD) is characterized by oral and genital ulceration and is complicated by eye, skin, joint and central nervous system lesions. It has long been understood that BD has a strong genetic component, but to date the identified genes account for only around 30% of the risk for developing the disease, and the work has mostly been based on candidate gene analysis. In a recent report, Fei and coworkers presented the results of the first genome-wide analysis of patients with BD. These findings suggest new pathways for investigation in this complex disease.