Gastric eosinophilia--clinical and morphological correlations.

Eosinophils of the gastrointestinal tract are involved in the host immune response that occurs in the presence of the pathogens in the digestive lumen, taking part in maintaining the homeostasis of the gastrointestinal epithelium. Their involvement in inflammatory processes of chronic gastritis is less known. In our study, we identified the presence of eosinophils in chorion gastric mucosa (lamina propria) in over 34% of chronic gastritis. Eosinophils were more numerous in atrophic gastritis with intestinal metaplasia. More than 65% of chronic gastritis associated with Helicobacter pylori also had eosinophils in the gastric mucosa.