Familial occurrence of lymphocytic colitis

The familial occurrence of lymphocytic colitis in a female parent and her t wo female children is reported, No other genetically based disorder, includ ing celiac disease, was evident. For both children, the age of diagnosis wa s more than two decades younger than the age of recognition of disease in t he parent, and some clinical features, including the requirement for pharma cological agents in both children, suggested that their disease severity wa s more significant than that of the involved parent, These characteristics of a familial disease have been previously reported and labelled 'genetic a nticipation' in some monogenetic forms of neurological disease, as well as in other types of inflammatory bowel diseases, including Crohn's disease. A lternatively, a common cohort effect related to a pathological environmenta l factor may have played a role in the pathogenesis of this disorder.