Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Aug;9(4):556-9.
doi: 10.1093/ckj/sfw041. Epub 2016 May 26.

Granulomatous interstitial nephritis and Crohn's disease

Sjoerd A M E G Timmermans  1 , Maarten H L Christiaans  1 , Myrurgia A Abdul-Hamid  2 , Frank Stifft  3 , Jan G M C Damoiseaux  4 , Pieter van Paassen  1
Affiliations

Granulomatous interstitial nephritis and Crohn's disease

Sjoerd A M E G Timmermans et al. Clin Kidney J. 2016 Aug.

Abstract

Granulomatous interstitial nephritis has been observed in <1% of native renal biopsies. Here, we describe two patients with granulomatous interstitial nephritis in relation to Crohn's disease. Circulating helper and cytotoxic T cells were highly activated, and both cell types predominated in the interstitial infiltrate, indicating a cellular autoimmune response. After immunosuppressive treatment, renal function either improved or stabilized in both patients. In conclusion, granulomatous interstitial nephritis is a genuine extraintestinal manifestation of Crohn's disease, the treatment of which should include immunosuppressive agents.

Keywords: Crohn's disease; T cells; calcineurin inhibitors; granulomatous interstitial nephritis; inflammatory bowel disease.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Renal biopsy revealing granulomatous interstitial nephritis (A; haematoxylin and eosin, 200×). Immunohistochemistry staining revealing a predominant T cell infiltrate (B; CD3, 200×), consisting of both T-helper cells (C; CD4, 200×) and cytotoxic T cells (D; CD8, 200×). Of note, neither crystals nor polarized material was observed.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Danese S, Semeraro S, Papa A et al. . Extraintestinal manifestations in inflammatory bowel disease. World J Gastroenterol 2005; 11: 7227–7236 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ambruzs JM, Walker PD, Larsen CP. The histopathologic spectrum of kidney biopsies in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 2014; 9: 265–270 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Robson MG, Banerjee D, Hopster D et al. . Seven cases of granulomatous interstitial nephritis in the absence of extrarenal sarcoid. Nephrol Dial Transplant 2003; 18: 280–284 - PubMed
    1. Joss N, Morris S, Young B et al. . Granulomatous interstitial nephritis. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 2007; 2: 222–230 - PubMed
    1. Bijol V, Mendez GP, Nose V et al. . Granulomatous interstitial nephritis: a clinicopathologic study of 46 cases from a single institution. Int J Surg Pathol 2006; 14: 57–63 - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources