Background: Undernutrition remains a significant problem worldwide, with environmental enteropathy implicated as a contributing factor. An understanding of the pathogenesis and identification of children at risk are critical to the design of more-effective interventions.
Objective: The stool regenerating gene 1β (REG1B) protein, which is a putative measure of intestinal injury and repair, was tested as a noninvasive biomarker of future childhood stunting.
Design: A total of 222 children from Bangladesh and 97 children from Peru, who were from impoverished communities, were followed from birth through 24 mo of age with anthropometric measures obtained every 3 mo. Stool REG1B protein concentrations were obtained by using an REG1B polyclonal-polyclonal ELISA at 3 mo of age. We tested for the ability of REG1B to forecast future anthropometric shortfalls, independent of known predictors of undernutrition of family income and baseline height and weight.
Results: In the Bangladesh cohort of 222 children, higher REG1B concentrations at month 3 were significantly and independently associated with a growth shortfall in a linear regression analysis at months 9, 12, 18, 21, and 24 and, in the Peru cohort, at months 12, 15, 18, 21, and 24. With the use of a mixed model for repeated measurements, higher stool REG1B concentrations at 3 mo were also independently predictive of a lower future length-for-age z score through 24 mo of age (Bangladesh P = 0.006; Peru P = 0.058).
Conclusion: The ability of fecal REG1B to predict growth shortfall in independent cohorts of impoverished children from the developing world offers promise as a malnutrition biomarker and supports a role for environmental enteropathy in the pathogenesis of growth shortfall.