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Intestinal permeability in Behçet's syndrome
I Fresko1, V Hamuryudan, M Demir
1Department of Rheumatology, Cerrahpaşa Medical Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey. freskoi@superonline.com
Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
|December 15, 2000
Summary
Intestinal permeability is increased in patients with Behçet's syndrome (BS) compared to healthy individuals. This finding suggests a potential gut involvement in BS, though its specificity is questioned due to similar results in other diseases.
Area of Science:
- Gastroenterology
- Immunology
- Clinical Medicine
Background:
- Behçet's syndrome (BS) is a multisystem inflammatory disease.
- Intestinal permeability is a key indicator of gastrointestinal health.
- The role of gut barrier function in BS pathogenesis is not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify intestinal permeability in patients with Behçet's syndrome.
- To compare intestinal permeability in BS patients with healthy controls and patients with other inflammatory conditions.
Main Methods:
- Utilized chromium-51 EDTA ((51)Cr-EDTA) as a radioactive tracer to measure intestinal permeability.
- Measured the percentage of (51)Cr-EDTA excreted in 24-hour urine samples.
- Included 34 BS patients, 10 ankylosing spondylitis (AS), 6 inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), 17 systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, and 15 healthy controls (HC).
Main Results:
- Patients with BS exhibited significantly higher intestinal permeability (4.6% excretion) compared to healthy controls (2.3% excretion).
- Increased intestinal permeability was also observed in AS (6%), IBD (5.2%), and SLE (5.56%) patients.
- Statistical analysis (ANOVA) revealed significant differences between BS and HC, AS and HC, and SLE and HC groups (p=0.0002).
Conclusions:
- Intestinal permeability is significantly elevated in patients with Behçet's syndrome.
- The observed increase in permeability is not specific to BS, as similar elevations were found in other systemic inflammatory diseases.
- These findings suggest a potential disruption of the gut barrier in BS, but further research is needed to determine its specific role and diagnostic value.