Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Section of Microbiology, University of Parma, Italy.
Pathol Res Pract. 2012 Mar 15;208(3):177-80. doi: 10.1016/j.prp.2011.12.004. Epub 2012 Jan 23.
Intestinal spirochaetosis is a human colonic infection due to Brachyspira aalborgi and Brachyspira pilosicoli causing various abdominal complaints. Although the presence of healthy epithelial cells was hypothesized to be essential for the adhesion of spirochaetes to the colonic mucosa, their adhesion to hyperplastic and adenomatous colonic polyps has been observed recently. We report a case of a woman with long-standing abdominal symptoms, in whom spirochaetes were found on the colonic mucosa surrounding an adenocarcinoma in the biopsies collected during eight years of follow-up. Spirochaetes were found attached to normal mucosa, to hyperplastic and to adenomatous polyps, but not to the epithelium of the carcinoma. The rectal biopsy collected during the last follow-up colonoscopy was subjected to histopathology and to a specific examination for brachyspires, demonstrating the presence of B. pilosicoli DNA. This report could stimulate microbiological investigations during the follow-up of colonic polyps in order to explain whether the persistence of abdominal symptoms in such patients could be caused by a colonic spirochaetosis susceptible to eradication by a targeted therapy.
肠螺旋体病是一种人类结肠感染，由鲍氏密螺旋体和细弱密螺旋体引起，可导致各种腹部不适。尽管健康的上皮细胞的存在被假设对于螺旋体黏附到结肠黏膜是必需的，但最近已经观察到它们黏附到增生性和腺瘤性结肠息肉。我们报告了一例女性长期存在腹部症状的病例，在 8 年的随访期间收集的活检中，在腺癌周围的结肠黏膜上发现了螺旋体。螺旋体被发现黏附在正常黏膜、增生性和腺瘤性息肉上，但不黏附在癌上皮上。在最近一次随访结肠镜检查时收集的直肠活检进行了组织病理学和针对密螺旋体的特定检查，显示存在 B. pilosicoli DNA。本报告可能会刺激在结肠息肉的随访期间进行微生物学研究，以解释在这些患者中持续存在的腹部症状是否可能是由一种易于通过靶向治疗根除的结肠螺旋体病引起的。
