Bowel-associated dermatosis-arthritis syndrome. Immune complex-mediated vessel damage and increased neutrophil migration.

In a recent report we described a syndrome, identical to bowel-bypass syndrome, that occurred in four patients who had not had bypass surgery. Herein, circulating immune complexes (CICs) and neutrophil migration are evaluated in three of those four patients to test the hypothesis that the cutaneous lesions might have resulted from interaction between immune complex-mediated vessel damage and increased neutrophil migration. In vitro assays indicated that CICs were present in one of two patients and "histamine trap" test evidence for CICs was present in both patients tested. Although serum from the three patients appeared to increase neutrophil movement, statistically significant increases were not observed when data were pooled in this small study group. Preliminary results suggest that immune complex-mediated vessel damage, followed by extensive accumulation of neutrophils, may cause the pustular vasculitis in the bowel-associated dermatosis-arthritis syndrome.