Background: Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT) is one of the most prevalent autoimmune diseases. The intestine microbiota is strongly associated with autoimmune diseases. Zonulin, a modulator of tight junctions that controls the selective permeability of the intestine can induce an elevation in gut permeability. We aimed to investigate the association of plasma zonulin levels with HT.
Methods: We compared 77 HT patients with 66 age-gender and BMI-matched healthy individuals in the case of plasma zonulin levels. Plasma zonulin levels were measured by ELISA. The statistical analyses were performed using Student's t-test and chi-square tests. The predictive power was investigated using univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis.
Results: We found that the increase in plasma zonulin levels in the HT group was statistically significant compared to the control group (p < 0.001). The regression analysis showed that urea, anti-thyroid peroxidase, aspartate aminotransferase, thyroid-stimulating hormone, free T3, and serum zonulin levels were found to be associated with HT in both univariate and multivariate models (p < 0.05).
Discussion: Zonulin is a possible biomarker candidate that may link intestinal permeability with the etiology of autoimmune diseases.
Keywords: Hashimoto thyroiditis; autoimmune diseases; gut permeability; microbiota; zonulin.