Patching a Leaky Intestine
- 31 July 2008
- journal article
- Published by Massachusetts Medical Society in New England Journal of Medicine
- Vol. 359 (5) , 526-528
- https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmcibr0803745
Abstract
In patients with protein-losing enteropathy, the intestinal mucosa completely fails to function as a competent barrier separating the body from the outside world. Serum fluids and proteins quickly leak into the stool, causing diarrhea, hypoalbuminemia, and sometimes death. A recent study by Bode and colleagues1 showed that the disease might be related to the loss of heparin sulfate proteins that are normally expressed on intestinal cells. Remarkably, the investigators also showed that the disease can be successfully treated with novel analogues of heparin sulfate.For the intestine to efficiently absorb nutrient solutes, it first has to effectively separate the lamina . . .Keywords
This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:
- Heparan sulfate and syndecan-1 are essential in maintaining murine and human intestinal epithelial barrier functionJournal of Clinical Investigation, 2008
- Synergistic control of cell adhesion by integrins and syndecansNature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, 2007