Can Zonulin level be a new diagnosis and follow-up criterion in active ulcerative colitis?

Abstract

Objective: In this study, we compared the serum zonulin levels in patients diagnosed for the first time with active ulcerative colitis with those in healthy cases and attempted to determine whether serum zonulin levels were different in the active ulcerative colitis. \nMaterial and Methods: A total of 53 naive patients admitted to our hospital between 2019 and 2020 and diagnosed with active ulcerative colitis by colonoscopy were included as a group of cases and 37 patients with no acute or chronic diseases whose colonoscopy was normal as the control group. \nResults: The study was conducted on 90 cases, 65.5% male and 34.5% female. The patients with ulcerative colitis were compared with the control group in terms of serum zonulin levels. Average serum zonulin levels of the patients with ulcerative colitis (16.73 ± 5.49 ng/ml) were not significantly different than those in the control group 17.48 ± 8.31 ng/ml). Serum zonulin levels of the patients were also compared according to location and severity of disease and did not differ statistically significantly between the groups in terms of the Montreal Classification. When serum zonulin levels were grouped according to the Truelove and Witts criteria, there was no statistically significant difference between the patient groups themselves and the control group. \nConclusion: Serum zonulin levels were not greater in the patients with naive active ulcerative colitis compared to the healthy controls. Several previous studies have shown that serum zonulin levels are elevated in patients with ulcerative colitis, but more studies are needed on this subject.