Background: The human mucosal lymphocyte antigen (HML-1) consists of αE β7 subunits, which is similar to the widely detectable α4β7 integrin located on the peripheral blood lymphocytes. Both of these type of integrins are activated by mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule-1 (MAdCAM-1). Patients: 25 normal rectum and colon biopsy samples were collected from 23 patients during operational procedures (mean age: 280 days, range: 9 - 838 days). No signs of inflammation were found on routine histological evaluation. Methods: The rat monoclonal anti-β7 antibody Fib504 and a sensitive immunohistochemical method were used to determine the density ofβ7 positive cells. The densities were compared to the densities of the T- cells in the same material. Results: a significant positive correlation was found between the β7 positive lamina propria lymphocytes and the patients' age (R= 0.47, p= 0.02). The density of lamina propria T-lymphocytes has not shown any significant correlation, neither to the patients' age nor to the density of β7 positive cells .Conclusions: The increase of β7 expressing lamina propria cells is not related to the increase in number of the T-lymphocytes. A probable cause of the increase is the growth of the homing receptor positive area of the cell surface.