Maria Barbaro, MD, associate professor in the department of medical science and surgery at the University of Bologna, Italy, and the study’s principal investigator, and colleagues used immunoassays to measure serum zonulin levels in 27 patients with non-celiac gluten sensitivity, 15 patients with diarrhea-predominant IBS, 15 patients with celiac disease and 15 healthy controls. They also used zonulin to measure non-celiac gluten sensitivity in patients on and off a gluten-free diet.
Here are three points:
1. Compared with a median zonulin level of 0.007 ng/mg total proteins in health controls, median levels were 0.033 ng/mg in celiac patients, 0.030 ng/mg in non-celiac gluten sensitivity patients and 0.012 ng/mg patients with IBS-D.
2. The zonulin levels for patients with celiac disease and non-celiac gluten sensitivity were significantly higher than in patients with IBS-D.
3. In patients with celiac disease, levels of zonulin were positively correlated with titers for both anti-TTG and anti-DGP antibodies, which are both well-validated tests for diagnosing and monitoring celiac disease.
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