Are the Focal Microscopic Jejunal Lesions in Crohn's Disease Produced by a T-Cell-Mediated Immune Response?
- 1 January 1987
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology
- Vol. 22 (9), 1071-1075
- https://doi.org/10.3109/00365528708991960
Abstract
In animal models of intestinal hypersensitivity, lymphocyte-mediated damage to the small-bowel mucosa produces a characteristic pattern of morphologic abnormalities. Similar findings in human jejunal biopsy specimens may also indicate that T cells are involved in a disease process. To test the hypothesis that there is a generalized activation of mucosal T cells throughout the small-intestinal mucosa in Crohn's disease, measurements of the lengths of crypts and villi and intraepithelial lymphocyte (IEL) counts were made on jejunal specimens from 33 patients with this condition, and the results compared with the established reference values and with results of specimen measurements in a group of normal subjects. Taken as a group, the specimens from Crohn's patients had abnormal villus length, crypt length, and IEL counts. Focal histologic abnormalities such as ulcers, fissures, or granulomas were present in 10 of the specimens. When specimens with and without a focal abnormality were compared, the former showed shorter villi (median, 249.6 versus 331 μm, p < 0.01), longer crypts (median, 330.4 versus 108.2 μm, p < 0.01) and higher IEL counts (60.5 versus 32 IEL/100 enterocytes, p < 0.01). These findings suggest that there is a mucosal cell-mediated immune response in the jejunum in Crohn's disease and that this is pronounced in the vicinity of microscopic, focal lesions.Keywords
This publication has 9 references indexed in Scilit:
- The Small-Intestinal Mucosa in Patients with Crohn's Disease Assessed by Scanning Electron and Light MicroscopyScandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology, 1984
- Morphological and immunohistochemical findings in upper gastrointestinal biopsies of patients with Crohn's disease of the ileum and colon.Journal of Clinical Pathology, 1982
- Intraepithelial lymphocytes of the small intestine.Gut, 1977
- Enzymatic and morphometric evidence for Crohn's disease as a diffuse lesion of the gastrointestinal tract.Gut, 1977
- Immunohistochemical Characterization of Local Immunoglobulin Formation in Crohn’s Disease of the IleumScandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology, 1976
- ABNORMALITIES IN THE APPARENTLY NORMAL BOWEL MUCOSA IN CROHN'S DISEASEThe Lancet, 1976
- A study of the cellular infiltrate of the proximal jejunal mucosa in ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.Gut, 1975
- Quantitation of intraepithelial lymphocytes in human jejunumGut, 1971
- Abnormalities of the small intestinal mucosa in Crohn's Disease (regional enteritis)Digestive Diseases and Sciences, 1962