Role of fecal calprotectin in the assessment of intestinal inflammation in children with familial Mediterranean fever

• Published in: International journal of rheumatic diseases 2018-10, Vol.21 (10), p.1844-1848
• Main Authors: Gucenmez, Ozge Altug, Kume, Tuncay, Makay, Balahan, Babayigit, Omur, Arslan, Nur, Unsal, Erbil
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amyloidosis; Asymptomatic Diseases; Biomarkers - analysis; Calprotectin; Case-Control Studies; Child; Child, Preschool; Children; Colitis, Ulcerative - diagnosis; Colitis, Ulcerative - metabolism; Colon; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Familial Mediterranean fever; Familial Mediterranean Fever - complications; Familial Mediterranean Fever - diagnosis; Familial Mediterranean Fever - metabolism; Feces; Feces - chemistry; Female; Fever; gastrointestinal inflammation; Humans; Inflammation; Inflammation Mediators - analysis; Inflammatory bowel disease; Inflammatory bowel diseases; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases - diagnosis; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases - etiology; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases - metabolism; Intestine; Leukocyte L1 Antigen Complex - analysis; Male; Pediatrics; Predictive Value of Tests; Pyrin protein; Serositis; Ulcerative colitis; Up-Regulation; Vasculitis
• ISSN: 1756-1841; 1756-185X
• DOI: 10.1111/1756-185X.13396

Aim Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is the most common auto‐inflammatory disease with recurrent fever and serositis episodes. In recent years, some cases with FMF were reported with gastrointestinal involvement without amyloidosis, vasculitis and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). It is not yet known whether gastrointestinal involvement is a part of the disease or not. The aim of this study is to investigate the frequency of intestinal inflammation by using a noninvasive method, fecal calprotectin measurement, in pediatric FMF patients. Method Sixty‐five FMF patients, 30 healthy controls and 11 patients with acute ulcerative colitis were included in the study. A standard survey inquiring gastrointestinal and other clinical symptoms was completed. The medications, MEFV mutations, whole blood count and C‐reactive protein levels were recorded. Fecal calprotectin was studied with the enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay method from the feces samples of the all subjects. Results None of the FMF patients had clinical signs of IBD. Fecal calprotectin levels of the FMF patients were found to be significantly higher than the healthy controls (174.8 ± 150.8 vs 52.9 ± 36.5, p