Crohn's disease stable remission after human immunodeficiency virus infection.
We retrospectively assessed the clinical course in four patients with long-standing Crohn's disease who became infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The duration of active Crohn's disease was 21, 10, 4, and 4 years in our four patients. They experienced a stable remission of Crohn's disease symptoms after HIV infection. In three patients Crohn's disease was in stable remission for 5, 8, and 8 years after HIV infection and all three died from acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-related disease. One patient was still alive without recurrence of Crohn's disease symptoms 7 years following HIV detection. Our observations of a spontaneous improvement in the clinical course of Crohn's disease after HIV infection, suggests that the integrity of the immune response, especially that of CD4 T cells, plays a major role in the tissue injury mechanism in Crohn's disease.
Pospai
D
D
Department of Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Bichat Claude-Bernard University Hospital, Paris, France.
René
E
E
Fiasse
R
R
Farahat
K
K
Beaugery
L
L
Lammens
P
P
Reimund
C
C
Duclos
B
B
Le Quintrec
Y
Y
Vandercam
B
B
Mignon
M
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000276:immunology; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies