Pepsinogen A polymorphism in gastric mucosa and urine, with special reference to patients with gastric cancer.
Electrophoretic pepsinogen A patterns were determined in gastric fundic mucosa biopsies from 601 patients with various gastric disorders and 25 healthy volunteers. Pepsinogen A patterns with an intense fraction 5 appeared to be associated with gastric cancer and premalignant changes of the stomach (p less than 10(-9)). In 60 individuals pepsinogen A patterns were determined in normal mucosa from different parts of the stomach. No differences were found between these patterns. In 29 out of 59 gastric cancer patients pepsinogen A could be demonstrated in the macroscopically malignant tissue. In two cases a different pattern compared with uninvolved fundic mucosa was observed. During a follow up study, major changes in the pepsinogen A pattern were observed in 7 out of 56 patients. In 8.6% of the examined patients urinary pepsinogen A patterns differed considerably as compared with the pattern observed in the gastric fundus. The results suggest that the highly significant association between intense Pg5 (the product of the D gene) and gastric cancer or its precursors may be caused by genetic as well as non-genetic factors.
D005748:Gastric Fundus / Q000201:enzymology; D005753:Gastric Mucosa / Q000201:enzymology*; D006801:Humans; D010435:Pepsinogens / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000652:urine; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics
D010435:Pepsinogens