Garg Parvesh Mohan, Denton McKenzie X, Ravisankar Srikanth, Herco Maja, Shenberger Jeffrey S, Chen Yan-Hua
Department of Pediatrics/Neonatology, Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston Salem, NC, USA.
Department of Pediatrics, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA.
J Neonatal Perinatal Med. 2025 Jun 16:19345798251349394. doi: 10.1177/19345798251349394.
The intestinal epithelial barrier consists of a single layer of cells that separate the gut lumen from the rest of the body. It regulates and protects the intestinal tract immunologically and mechanically. Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is one of the most common conditions requiring emergency surgery in the neonatal intensive care unit and is associated with a septic shock-like state contributing to multi-organ dysfunction. NEC affects 6-10% of very low birthweight infants and remains a leading cause of death. This review presents current evidence of the role of tight junction proteins in clinical neonatology and intestinal health using information from our own clinical and laboratory research in conjunction with information collected from an extensive search in the databases PubMed, EMBASE, and Scopus. The ability to measure the permeability of the intestinal barrier in real-time is essential to understanding the disease process of NEC and the subsequent morbidities. Detection of TJ proteins in blood and stool of preterm infants represents a potential biomarker for the early NEC diagnosis. Therapeutics targeting TJ proteins may also mitigate NEC severity and improve clinical outcomes.
肠上皮屏障由一层将肠腔与身体其他部分分隔开的细胞组成。它在免疫和机械方面调节和保护肠道。坏死性小肠结肠炎（NEC）是新生儿重症监护病房中最常见的需要紧急手术的病症之一，与导致多器官功能障碍的脓毒性休克样状态相关。NEC影响6%至10%的极低出生体重儿，仍然是主要的死亡原因。本综述结合我们自己的临床和实验室研究信息以及从数据库PubMed、EMBASE和Scopus广泛检索收集的信息，展示了紧密连接蛋白在临床新生儿学和肠道健康中作用的当前证据。实时测量肠屏障通透性的能力对于理解NEC的疾病过程及随后的发病情况至关重要。检测早产儿血液和粪便中的紧密连接蛋白是早期NEC诊断的潜在生物标志物。针对紧密连接蛋白的治疗方法也可能减轻NEC的严重程度并改善临床结果。
