Gene expression profiles of mucosal biopsy specimens in children with eosinophilic gastritis

Background Eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders (EGID) are clinicopathologically characterized by massive eosinophilic infiltration into the gastrointestinal tract and are classified into eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), gastritis (EG), gastroenteritis, enteritis and colitis according to the site of infiltration. Studies of the pathogenic mechanism of EoE, whose incidence and prevalence are increasing in Western countries, revealed that eotaxin-3 plays a crucial role in inducing selective recruitment of eosinophils into the esophageal epithelium. In contrast, the pathogenic mechanism of EG remains obscure. In order to elucidate whether EG’s pathogenic mechanism is similar to that of EoE, we performed transcriptome analysis of gastric biopsy specimens from EG patients and compared the identified gene signature to the previous microarray data for EoE patients (J Clin Invest, 116:536-47, 2006).