Commentary
See article on page 662T-cell lymphoma: the real thing
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
It is altogether appropriate that the gut should possess
efficient immunological defences given the interface between its antigen-rich contents and the permeable mucosa. More than that, however, the gut is an important immunological organ in its own right.
In this respect, the gut mucosa contains more lymphocytes than all
other organs of the immune system combined. It is estimated that in
humans a metre of intestine contains 1010 lymphocytes,
which is almost equivalent to the number contained in the
spleen.1 In the light of this quantitative difference and
the fact that intestinal lymphoid tissues are subject to constant immunostimulation, it might be expected that a larger proportion of
lymphomas would arise from the intestine than the peripheral lymphoid
system but, curiously, the contrary is true. Although the
gastrointestinal tract is the commonest site of extra-nodal lymphoma in
Western countries, only 10% of lymphomas overall arise there.2 There are, however, significant
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
Relevant Article
- The clinicopathological features of extensive small intestinal CD4 T cell infiltration
- F Carbonnel, H d'Almagne, A Lavergne, C Matuchansky, J C Brouet, F Sigaux, L Beaugerie, J Nemeth, B Coffin, J Cosnes, J P Gendre, and J C Rambaud
Gut 1999 45: 662-667.[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
