Title

Review Article: Mycobacterium Avium Subsp. Paratuberculosis As One Cause Of Crohn'S Disease

Abstract

A number of theories regarding the aetiology of Crohn's disease have been proposed. Diet, infections, other unidentified environmental factors and immune disregulation, all working under the influence of a genetic predisposition, have been viewed with suspicion. Many now believe that Crohn's disease is a syndrome caused by several aetiologies. The two leading theories are the infectious and autoimmune theories. The leading infectious candidate is Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (Mycobacterium paratuberculosis), the causative agent of Johne's disease, an inflammatory bowel disease in a variety of mammals including cattle, sheep, deer, bison, monkeys and chimpanzees. The evidence to support M. paratuberculosis infection as a cause of Crohn's disease is mounting rapidly. Technical advances have allowed the identification and/or isolation of M. paratuberculosis from a significantly higher proportion of Crohn's disease tissues than from controls. These methodologies include: (i) improved culture techniques: (ii) development of M. paratuberculosis-specific polymerase chain reaction assays: (iii) development of a novel in situ hybridization method: (iv) efficacy of macrolide and antimycobacterial drug therapies: and (v) discovery of Crohn's disease-specific seroreactivity against two specific M. paratuberculosis recombinant antigens. The causal role for M. paratuberculosis in Crohn's disease and correlation of infection with specific stratification(s) of the disorder need to be investigated. The data implicating Crohn's as an autoimmune disorder may be viewed in a manner that supports the mycobacterial theory. The mycobacterial theory and the autoimmune theory are complementary; the first deals with the aetiology of the disorder, the second deals with its pathogenesis. Combined therapies directed against a mycobacterial aetiology and inflammation may be the optimal treatment of the disease.

Publication Date

3-14-2001

Publication Title

Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics

Volume

15

Issue

3

Number of Pages

337-346

Document Type

Review

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2036.2001.00933.x

Socpus ID

0035123080 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/0035123080

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS