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Previous Volume 359:526-528 July 31, 2008 Number 5 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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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 . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Source Information

From the Department of Medicine, Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School, Boston.

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