Autoimmune enteropathy in adults

Abstract

Autoimmune enteropathy (AIE) is one of the differential diagnoses of chronic intractable diarrhea, malnutrition, and weight loss. This mixed-type diarrhea with protein-losing enteropathy usually involves the small intestine but gastric and colonic involvements are not rare. Small intestinal biopsy is characterized by villous atrophy of variable severity, crypt hyperplasia, and infiltration of mononuclear cell. It is usually diagnosed by presence of clinical features, circulating auto antibodies against enterocytes, presence of histological characters and executions of other causes of villous atrophy. Majority of AIE patients respond to corticosteroid therapy but patients who are not responding to steroid, treated by immunomodulators. We are trying to give an overall idea on AIE in this review article.