Abstract
Crohn disease is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease of unknown etiology. Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis (MAP) was found in the gut of patients with Crohn disease, but causality was not established. Fully developed, germ-free human small intestine and colon were established by subcutaneous transplantation of fetal gut into SCID (severe combined immunodeficiency) mice thereafter infected by direct intraluminal inoculation of MAP. We have found that MAP actively invades the human gut epithelial goblet cells of the small intestine, inducing severe tissue damage and inflammation. These observations indicate that MAP can specifically colonize the normal human small intestine and can elicit inflammation and severe mucosal damage.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 350-354 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Journal of Infectious Diseases |
| Volume | 199 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1 Feb 2009 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Received 11 March 2008; accepted 22 May 2008; electronically published 10 January 2009. Potential conflicts of interest: none reported. Financial support: Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund (IS-3413-03, IS-3673-05); Israel Science Foundation (F.I.R.S.T 256/06); Ministry of Health, State of Israel. Reprints or correspondence: Dr. N. Y. Shpigel, The Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, PO Box 12, Rehovot 76100, Israel ([email protected]).