title: Duodenal lactoferrin in patients with chronic pancreatitis and gastrointestinal diseases.
abstract: Lactoferrin (LF), chymotrypsin and lipase activity were measured in duodenal juice during pancreatic stimulation. Secretin (0.5 CU/kg/h) plus cerulein (75 ng/kg/h) were infused intravenously in 98 subjects: 33 patients without organic diseases (C), 40 patients affected by chronic pancreatitis (CP), and 25 patients with different gastrointestinal diseases (GID). LF was determined by means of a new noncompetitive immunoenzymatic assay with a sensitivity in the duodenal juice of 5 ng/ml. Duodenal LF concentrations were significantly higher in CP than in C or GID (p less than 0.001). LF was in a normal range in acute relapsing pancreatitis due to biliary stones or pancreas divisum. In the diagnosis of the chronic pancreatitis, LF/lipase ratios showed a specificity of 93% and a sensitivity of 95%. Our results show that LF immunoassay in duodenal juice is a sensitive and accurate assay to apply in pancreatic function tests involving duodenal content analysis.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001826:Body Fluids / Q000378:metabolism; D002108:Ceruletide; D002908:Chronic Disease; D002918:Chymotrypsin / Q000378:metabolism; D004386:Duodenum / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007781:Lactoferrin / Q000378:metabolism*; D007782:Lactoglobulins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008049:Lipase / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000378:metabolism*; D012633:Secretin
chemical_list: D007782:Lactoglobulins; D012633:Secretin; D002108:Ceruletide; D008049:Lipase; D007781:Lactoferrin; D002918:Chymotrypsin