Unit of Internal Medicine, "V. Cervello" Hospital, Ospedali Riuniti "Villa Sofia-Cervello", Via Trabucco, 180, 90146, Palermo, Italy.
Department of Health Promotion Sciences, Maternal and Infant Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties (PROMISE), University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
Intern Emerg Med. 2024 Aug;19(5):1255-1266. doi: 10.1007/s11739-024-03595-7. Epub 2024 Apr 12.
Some data suggest the existence of intestinal inflammation in patients with non-celiac wheat sensitivity (NCWS). We aimed to verify whether fecal calprotectin (FCP), a marker of intestinal inflammation, could be used to confirm this inflammatory status and to test its diagnostic performance in differentiating NCWS from irritable bowel syndrome/functional dyspepsia (IBS/FD). We conducted a multicenter study, comparing NCWS patients, diagnosed by a double-blind placebo-controlled wheat challenge, with IBS/FD subjects. In the retrospective phase, FCP values were analyzed to define the prevalence of its positivity and its role as a NCWS diagnostic biomarker. In the prospective phase we tested the effects of a strict 6-month wheat-free diet (WFD) on FCP values. 31.3% (n = 63/201) of NCWS patients had above normal FCP values (NCWS FCP +), whereas all IBS/FD patients proved negative (P = 0.0001). FCP using a cut-off value > 41 µg/g showed a 58.6% sensitivity and a 98.0% specificity (AUC 0.755, 95% C.I. 0.702-0.837) in distinguishing NCWS from IBS/FD patients. Of the 63 NCWS FCP+, 65.1% had negative FCP values after ≥ 6 months of WFD, with a significant reduction in FCP values (P < 0.0001). All NCWS FCP- subjects still preserved negative FCP values after ≥ 6 months of WFD. Our study showed that FCP can be a useful but supplementary diagnostic marker for differentiating between NCWS and IBS/FD. Strict WFD adherence reduced FCP values, normalizing them in 65.1% of NCWS FCP + subjects. These data suggest the existence of two NCWS subgroups: NCWS FCP + characterized by a probable predominantly inflammatory/immunologic pattern and NCWS FCP- featuring non-immuno-mediated etiopathogenetic mechanisms. (Registration number NCT01762579).
一些数据表明,非乳糜泻小麦敏感(NCWS)患者存在肠道炎症。我们旨在验证粪便钙卫蛋白(FCP)是否可用于确认这种炎症状态,并测试其在区分 NCWS 与肠易激综合征/功能性消化不良(IBS/FD)中的诊断性能。我们进行了一项多中心研究,比较了通过双盲安慰剂对照的小麦挑战诊断为 NCWS 的患者与 IBS/FD 患者。在回顾性阶段,分析了 FCP 值以确定其阳性率及其作为 NCWS 诊断生物标志物的作用。在前瞻性阶段,我们测试了严格的 6 个月无麦饮食(WFD)对 FCP 值的影响。201 名 NCWS 患者中有 31.3%(n=63)的 FCP 值高于正常值(NCWS FCP+),而所有 IBS/FD 患者均为阴性(P=0.0001)。使用截断值>41µg/g 的 FCP 检测在区分 NCWS 与 IBS/FD 患者方面具有 58.6%的敏感性和 98.0%的特异性(AUC 0.755,95%CI 0.702-0.837)。在 63 名 NCWS FCP+中,65.1%在 WFD 后≥6 个月时 FCP 值转为阴性,FCP 值显著降低(P<0.0001)。所有 NCWS FCP-患者在 WFD 后≥6 个月仍保持阴性 FCP 值。我们的研究表明,FCP 可作为区分 NCWS 和 IBS/FD 的有用但补充性诊断标志物。严格的 WFD 依从性降低了 FCP 值,使 65.1%的 NCWS FCP+患者的 FCP 值恢复正常。这些数据表明存在两种 NCWS 亚组:NCWS FCP+表现出可能主要是炎症/免疫模式,而 NCWS FCP-表现出非免疫介导的病因发病机制。(注册号 NCT01762579)。
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