Whipple Disease: Intestinal Infiltrating Cells Exhibit a Transcriptional Pattern of M2/Alternatively Activated Macrophages
Open Access
- 1 November 2005
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in The Journal of Infectious Diseases
- Vol. 192 (9) , 1642-1646
- https://doi.org/10.1086/491745
Abstract
Whipple disease (WD) is a rare systemic disease caused by Tropheryma whipplei and is characterized by the presence of foamy macrophages with periodic acid‐Schiff–positive inclusions in tissues such as lamina propria. For the first time, we report the gene‐expression profile of macrophages in intestinal lesions from a patient with WD. Microarray and real‐time polymerase chain reaction revealed that genes encoding CCL18, cathepsins, scavenger receptor, interleukin‐10, and lipid metabolites were up‐regulated in intestinal lesions. This transcriptional pattern corresponds to that of M2/alternatively activated macrophages. Our results suggest that the T helper 2 response in the intestinal environment may account for the pathophysiological properties of WD.Keywords
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