title: Crohn's disease stable remission after human immunodeficiency virus infection.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Bichat Claude-Bernard University Hospital, Paris, France.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pospai
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: René
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fiasse
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Farahat
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Beaugery
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lammens
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Reimund
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Duclos
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Le Quintrec
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vandercam
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mignon
mesh_terms: 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