[Eosinophilic esophagitis - update - pathogenesis, diagnosis and therapy].

Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a clinicopathological condition of the esophagus that has become increasingly recognised over the last decade. EoE represents a chronic immune-mediated inflammatory disease of the esophagus. In adults dysphagia is the predominant symptom.

Eosinophilic esophagitis: indications for treatment.

At present, it is still debated whether the focus of treatment in eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) should be directed toward a symptomatic or histological response, or even toward a combination of both. This question cannot be answered as long as we have no solid data evaluating the long-term consequences of untreated symptoms and untreated inflammation. Nevertheless, today there are at least three established reasons to treat patients with clinically and histologically active EoE.

Eosinophilic esophagitis: a bulk of mysteries.

Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), which was first described in the early 1990s, has rapidly evolved as a distinctive chronic inflammatory esophageal disease. The diagnosis is based clinically on the presence of symptoms related to esophageal dysfunction and histologically by an eosinophil-predominant inflammation once other conditions leading to esophageal eosinophilia are excluded. This striking male-prevalent disease has an increasing incidence and prevalence in the Westernized countries.

Anti-eosinophil activity and clinical efficacy of the CRTH2 antagonist OC000459 in eosinophilic esophagitis.

Background: Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a chronic, Th2-type inflammatory disease. Chemoattractant receptor-homologous molecule on Th2 cells (CRTH2) is a prostaglandin D(2) (PGD(2)) receptor, expressed by Th2 cells and other inflammatory cells, including eosinophils and basophils, that mediates chemotaxis and activation. OC000459 is a selective CRTH2 antagonist and would be expected to suppress eosinophilic tissue inflammation.

Eosinophils in the gastrointestinal tract: friends or foes?

Eosinophils play an important role in the mucosal immune system of the gastrointestinal tract under resting and under inflammatory conditions. Under steady-state conditions, the mucosa of the digestive tract is the only organ harboring a substantial number of eosinophils, which, if need be, get activated and exert several effector and immunoregulatory functions. The precise function of these late-phase inflammatory cells is not yet completely understood.