Zinc Deficiency and Intestinal Permeability in the Context of Rational Diagnostic and Drug Development for Diarrhea-Predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Excerpt

Diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D) is a symptom-based condition defined by the presence of concurrent abdominal/sensory symptoms of pain and bowel/motor symptoms of diarrhea. For the many patients that meet these criteria, there are several etiologies to explain its pathogenesis recognizing the possibility of concurrent and overlapping explanations in light of the increasing complexity of the current understanding of human gut–brain–microbiome interactions [1]. Though there are now several targeted therapies that are applicable to patients with IBS-D, the need to develop companion diagnostics to identify subsets of patients who might particularly respond to any given treatment is becoming increasingly clear—even for investigational treatments that are at early stages of development. …