Histopathologic Features of Eosinophilic Esophagitis and Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Diseases

Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) shows characteristic microscopic pathologic features in endoscopically obtained esophageal biopsies , including an eosinophil-rich inflammatory infiltrate in esophageal epithelium, but other inflammatory cells are also increased. Additional alterations are found in epithelium and lamina propria . Esophageal biopsy pathology is a sensitive but not specific marker for EoE related to antigen exposure. Several of the pathologic features of EoE correlate with dysregulated genes in the EoE transcriptome . Eosinophilic gastrointestinal diseases affecting the remainder of the gastrointestinal tract are less well characterized; this article discusses pathologic features in mucosal biopsies that could form the basis for diagnosis and future study.