Gastrointestinal symptoms and pathology in patients with Common variable immunodeficiency

Based on the findings of increased IEL in duodenal biopsies in CVID, an overlap with celiac disease has been suggested. In the present study, increased IEL, in particular in the pars descendens of the duodenum, was one of the most frequent histopathological finding. We therefore examined the gene expression profile in pars descendens of duodenum in CVID patients with increased IEL (n=12, IEL mean 34 [range 22-56] IEL/100 EC), CVID with normal levels of IEL (n=8), celiac disease (n=10, Marsh grade 3a or above) and healthy controls (n=17) by gene expression microarray GI histopathological findings in 53 CVID patients that underwent upper and lower endoscopic examination were addressed. For the microarray analysis 20 CVID (8 CVID_normal and 12 CVID with incresed IEL), 10 patients with celiac diseases and 17 healthy controls were included.