Abstract
While food-protein induced enteropathy in infancy is a significant cause of lower gastrointestinal bleeding in infants, the precise mechanism of this disease remains unclear. Main pathogenesis of food-protein induced enteropathy is considered as IgE-dependent, IgE-independent, and mixed reactions, where mixed and IgE-independent reactions, including cell-mediated reactions, are considered as the major cause especially in infancy. There are neutrophils, eosinophils, antigen-specific T cells and IgE involved in its pathogenesis together with the prematurity of host defense, digestion, and immunity. Since eosinophilia is a specific feature of this disease, proteinase released from eosinophils may deeply involve in its pathogenesis. Since there is a disease called the neonatal transient eosinophilia enterocolitis (NTEC), which is a very similar disease to food-protein induced enteropathy in infancy but caused without any allergic reactions, we need to further evaluate the pathogenesis of this disease by finding the effector cells in the intestinal inflammation.
