Normal variation in intraepithelial lymphocytes of the terminal ileum
UMass Chan Affiliations
Department of PathologyInformation Services, Academic Computing Services
Department of Cell Biology
Document Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2007-04-19Keywords
AdolescentAdult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Antigens, CD3
Female
Humans
Ileum
Intestinal Mucosa
Lymphocyte Count
Lymphocytes
Male
Middle Aged
Gastroenterology
Medical Immunology
Pathology
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The number of intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs) is often increased in the terminal ileum of patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases of the colon. However, data regarding their number in normal ileal mucosa of asymptomatic patients are lacking. We aimed to establish the acceptable range of IELs in biopsy specimens of normal ileal mucosa.Ileal mucosal biopsy specimens obtained during colonoscopy of 61 asymptomatic patients without endoscopic or pathologic evidence of colitis were immunostained for CD3 to assess the number of IELs present in each specimen. CD3+ lymphocytes were counted in 3 well-oriented villi and results expressed as the average for each biopsy specimen. The study group included 25 males and 36 females, ranging in age from 10 to 84 years (mean, 44.4 years). The mean +/- SD number of ileal CD3+ cells per 100 enterocytes for the group was 3.8 +/- 2 (median, 3; range, 0-9). In addition, there was a significant inverse relationship between the number of villus IELs and increasing age.Occasional IELs (approximately 4/100 villus enterocytes) are normally present in ileal biopsy specimens from asymptomatic patients without colitis. One should avoid overinterpreting the importance of occasional IELs in ileal biopsy specimens from asymptomatic patients.Source
Am J Clin Pathol. 2007 May;127(5):816-9. Link to article on publisher's siteDOI
10.1309/V1GCW4DHTHM9WVXJPermanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/35273PubMed ID
17439842Related Resources
Link to article in PubMedae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1309/V1GCW4DHTHM9WVXJ