Comparison of fecal pyruvate kinase isoform M2 and calprotectin in acute diarrhea in hospitalized children

Fecal concentrations of pyruvate kinase isoform M2 (M2-PK) and calprotectin (FC) serve as biomarkers of inflammation of gastrointestinal mucosa. The value of M2-PK in discriminating between patients with viral and bacterial acute diarrhea (AD) is currently unknown. We analyzed M2-PK and FC concentrations in fifty hospitalized children with AD (29 of which were caused by rotavirus and 21 by Salmonella enteritidis) as well as 32 healthy subjects. There was no difference in the areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves plotted for the two tests in differentiating rotaviral from bacterial AD. The sensitivity and specificity of M2-PK at optimal cut-off (20 U/g) were 75.9% and 71.4%, respectively. M2-PK and FC had similar values in distinguishing between children with AD caused by rotavirus and Salmonella enteritidis. The performance of both tests in hospitalized patients did not meet the needs of everyday clinical practice. Moreover, no advantage of fecal tests over the measurement of CRP was documented.