The study focuses on the use of Eosinophil-Derived Neurotoxin (EDN) as a biomarker for diagnosing eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE). Dr. Yamen Smadi and his team at the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children found that EDN is a practical, simple, and inexpensive tool for EoE diagnosis, particularly useful in challenging cases. The study, awarded at the American College of Gastroenterology’s 2023 annual meeting, involved 231 children, with 140 having a history of EoE and 140 serving as controls. EDN was measured in esophageal brushing samples during endoscopy, showing strong correlation with endoscopic reference score (EREFS) and peak eosinophil count (PEC), demonstrating 84.4% sensitivity and 94.6% specificity for EoE activity.
Dr. Smadi’s findings indicate that EDN levels are higher in children with eosinophilia in multiple levels of the esophagus and are significantly related to higher EREFS scores, particularly when eosinophilia is found in the distal esophagus. This suggests that EDN can be an effective adjunctive diagnostic tool, especially when esophageal distribution of eosinophilia is unequal and when endoscopy and histology results do not align.
The study echoes findings from a decade earlier by Dr. Yunju Jo in Korea, who also identified EDN as a useful biomarker for EoE. However, Dr. Stuart J. Spechler from Baylor University Medical Center expressed a need for further research to confirm EDN’s utility as a practical and reliable diagnostic tool, especially for diagnosing muscle-predominant forms of EoE that might be linked to motility disorders.
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