title: Plasma concentration of intestinal- and liver-FABP in neonates suffering from necrotizing enterocolitis and in healthy preterm neonates.
abstract: Both early diagnostic and prognostic assessment of the acute abdomen in preterm infants are hampered by the lack of a sensitive and specific parameter for intestinal injury. In this prospective clinical study we wanted to estimate the value of intestinal (I-) and liver (L-) fatty acid binding protein (FABP) in diagnosing necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). Using highly sensitive and specific sandwich ELISAs which employ recombinant human I- and L-FABP as standard proteins (limit of detection 0.1 ng/ml plasma), the L-FABP concentration (median 7.6 ng/ml) was determined to be about 3 fold that of I-FABP (median 2.52 ng/ml) in plasma of healthy preterm infants. I- and L-FABP concentrations significantly increased with birth weight (1.6 and 5.0 ng/ ml per kg, respectively). At onset of symptoms, I-FABP concentration was significantly higher in infants who later developed severe NEC compared to healthy infants and those, whose illness remained confined to stage I or II. L-FABP was significantly elevated compared to the control group at onset of symptoms regardless of the further course of NEC. In conclusion, I-FABP appears to be a specific parameter for early detection of intestinal injury leading to severe NEC stage III. L-FABP, however, is a promising sensitive marker even for stage I of NEC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neonatology, Charité Campus Mitte, Berlin, Germany. florian.guthmann@charite.de
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Guthmann
authors.forename: Torsten
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Börchers
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wolfrum
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wustrack
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bartholomäus
authors.forename: Friedrich
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Spener
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001724:Birth Weight; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D020345:Enterocolitis, Necrotizing / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D000071438:Fatty Acid-Binding Protein 7; D050556:Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000097:blood*; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; C493319:FABP1 protein, human; C107608:FABP7 protein, human; C493320:Fabp1 protein, mouse; D000071438:Fatty Acid-Binding Protein 7; D050556:Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins