Chronic or severe enteropathy and immunodeficiency: be prepared for a rara avis

Abstract

In the work-up of chronic enteropathies an underlying inborn error of immunity (IEI) should be considered in certain cases. IEI are rare, but approximately 10% of patients may present with symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which is a much more common entity. Patients with IEI associated IBD may show extraintestinal symptoms or signs, and are often refractory to conventional anti-inflammatory treatment. In case of early-onset bowel inflammation and other intestinal or extraintestinal manifestations, an IEI should be excluded. A small fraction of monogenic IEI can be amenable to targeted therapies, or even corrected by allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Therefore, early diagnosis is crucial. This paper shows examples of clinical - gastrointestinal as well as extraintestinal - signs and findings which require immunological and possibly genetic workup.