Case Report
Copyright ©2005 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Dec 21, 2005; 11(47): 7547-7549
Published online Dec 21, 2005. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v11.i47.7547
Concordance of ulcerative colitis in monozygotic twin sisters
Madoka Horiya, Satoru Kakizaki, Katsunobu Teshigawara, Yuki Kikuchi, Tetsu Hashida, Yoshio Tomizawa, Tomohiro Iida, Takashige Masuo, Hitoshi Takagi, Masatomo Mori
Madoka Horiya, Satoru Kakizaki, Katsunobu Teshigawara, Yuki Kikuchi, Tetsu Hashida, Yoshio Tomizawa, Tomohiro Iida, Takashige Masuo, Hitoshi Takagi, Masatomo Mori, Department of Medicine and Molecular Science, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Gunma 371-8511, Japan
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Correspondence to: Satoru Kakizaki, MD, PhD, Department of Medicine and Molecular Science, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, 3-39-15 Showa-machi, Maebashi, Gunma 371-8511, Japan. kakizaki@showa.gunma-u.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-27-220-8127 Fax: +81-27-220-8136
Received: April 27, 2005
Revised: May 8, 2005
Accepted: May 12, 2005
Published online: December 21, 2005
Abstract

The etiology of inflammatory bowel disease is multifactorial and appears to combine both genetic and environmental factors. We experienced here a rare occurrence of woman monozygotic twins with ulcerative colitis (UC). A 45-year-old woman (the elder monozygotic twin) was admitted to our hospital because of bloody diarrhea occurring over 10 times per day, abdominal pain and fever. She was diagnosed as UC at the age of 22, and repeated the relapse and remission. She was diagnosed as relapse of UC and total colitis type. Her younger monozygotic twin sister also suffered from UC at the age of 22. Human leukocyte antigen was examined serologically with DNA type in both patients. DRB1*1502, which was previously shown to be dominant in Japanese patients with UC, was not observed in this case. Although the concordance in monozygotic twin in UC is reported to be 6.3-18.8%, the concordant case like this is relatively rare. We report this rare case of UC and the previously reported cases are also discussed.

Keywords: Ulcerative colitis; Inflammatory bowel disease; Monozygotic twin; Human leukocyte antigen