Collagenous gastritis: reports and systematic review.

Collagenous gastritis is a rare disorder first described in 1989. After encountering two cases, we decided to review the literature and evaluate the collagen band. A systematic review of PubMed and EMBASE databases was performed. Twenty-eight cases have been previously described and two patterns of presentations are identifiable: children or young adults (median age 12 years, range 2-22 years) presenting with symptoms attributable to the gastritis (anaemia and pain); and older adults (median age 52 years, range 35-77 years) presenting with loose stools, often associated with collagenous colitis or coeliac disease. Our two cases (one child and one adult) matched this pattern. Immunostaining of the collagen band for collagens II, III, IV and VI, and tenascin showed that the band in our cases was predominantly tenascin. In conclusion, collagenous gastritis is a rare entity whose presentation depends on the age of the patient. An autoimmune aetiology seems possible given its associations. Treatment is empirical. The 30 cases now reported show that the disorder can relapse or persist for years.

Contribution of histological, serological, and genetic factors to the clinical heterogeneity of adult-onset coeliac disease.

OBJECTIVE: Although the factors predisposing to coeliac disease (CD) are largely understood, it remains unclear what determines the clinical heterogeneity of the disease. The aim of this study was to explore the contribution of histological, serological, and genetic factors to disease presentation. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study was designed as a retrospective chart review of 384 unrelated Caucasian patients diagnosed with CD after the age of 16 at a single UK centre. RESULTS: We found that 8.8% of IgA-competent CD patients were endomysial antibody (EMA)-negative. Compared with the EMA-positive group, EMA-negative CD patients had a lower prevalence of iron deficiency (52.0% versus 72.6%, p=0.03) and Marsh IIIb-c lesions (66.7% versus 85.3%, p=0.03). Histological severity at diagnosis correlated with anaemia (p<0.01), folate deficiency (p<0.01), and iron deficiency (p=0.05), but no other laboratory or clinical features. Compared with human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-DQ2.5-positive patients, those carrying HLA-DQ2.2 were similar in terms of all the characteristics we considered, whereas those carrying HLA-DQ8 had a lower frequency of EMA positivity (62.5% versus 92.6%, p<0.01). The proportion of EMA-positive patients increased with frequency of the HLA-DQB1*0201 allele (76.7% versus 92.3% versus 96.4% for 0 versus 1 versus 2 alleles, p<0.01); no other evidence of a gene-dose effect of HLA-DQB1*0201 was observed. CONCLUSIONS: Histological severity at diagnosis of CD is associated with anaemia and some micronutrient deficiencies, but no other clinical features. The proportion of EMA-positive patients is higher amongst those carrying HLA-DQ2 than in those carrying HLA-DQ8, and is highest in HLA-DQ2 homozygotes. We found no correlation between frequency of the HLA-DQ alleles encoding HLA-DQ2.5 and CD severity.