Role of fecal calprotectin as biomarker of gastrointestinal GVHD after allogeneic stem cell transplantation

摘要

We read with interest the article of Rodriguez-Otero et al.The authors studied the ability of fecal calprotectin (FC), alpha-1 antitryp-sin, and elastase to diagnose acute gastrointestinal GVHD (GI-GVHD) after allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT). In their experience, FC and a-1 antitrypsin increased in patients with GI-GVHD, but there was no statistic difference compared with control groups. On the other hand, high levels of both markers at the time of diagnosis were predictive of steroid-resistant GVHD. In past years, our group also investigated the role of FC as a noninvasive biomarker of GVHD. We enrolled a cohort of 59 hematologic patients consecutively submitted to allogeneic SCT, and studied the level of FC in patients who developed GI-GVHD, non-GI-GVHD, and in patients with infective colitis. We also included a control group of 9 patients with aspecific colitis after autologous SCT.