Intestinal permeability in the assessment of intestinal toxicity of cytotoxic agents.

The diagnosis and assessment of the severity of intestinal mucosal damage in cancer patients treated with cytotoxic drugs still rely on anamnestic data. There is cumulative evidence that measurement of intestinal permeability may represent a sensitive indicator of intestinal damage by cytotoxic agents. The intestinal permeability testing is based on differential permeability of tight junctions along the crypt-villus axis to nonmetabolized sugars. Cytotoxic drugs induce flattening of villi, leading to increased exposure of luminal contents to crypts and increased disaccharide absorption. An increased disaccharide/monosaccharide ratio and decreased xylose absorption have been described in patients treated with different cytotoxic drugs across a spectrum of malignant tumors that correlated with clinical manifestations, and were used to monitor the effect of therapeutic interventions. Copyright 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel.