title: Increased concentrations of the NH2-terminal fragment of gastrin-17 in acute duodenal ulcer and acute gastritis.
abstract: The concentration of the NH2-terminal fragment of gastrin-17 in serum was determined by radioimmunochemistry. Two antisera were used, one specific for the COOH-terminus and the other for the NH2-terminus of gastrin-17. The NH2-terminal gastrin-17 immunoreactivity in unfractionated serum correlated well with the amount of fragment found after gel filtration of the same sera (p less than 0.001). In healthy subjects (no. = 100), the NH2- and COOH-terminal gastrin immunoreactivity was 8 +/- 1 and 20 +/- 1 pmol/l (mean +/- SEM), respectively. In patients with acute duodenal ulcer (no. = 30) and acute gastritis (no. = 10) the NH2-terminal immunoreactivity was fourfold increased compared with in healthy subjects (p less than 0.001), whereas the COOH-terminal was identical, the NH2- and COOH-terminal concentrations being 33 +/- 7 and 22 +/- 2 pmol/l in duodenal ulcer and 35 +/- 6 and 21 +/- 1 pmol/l in acute gastritis. Other groups of patients had NH2- and COOH-terminal gastrin concentrations in serum similar to those measured in healthy subjects. The results suggest that gastrin cells process gastrin-17 abnormally during the acute phase of duodenal ulcer and gastritis.
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D002850:Chromatography, Gel; D004381:Duodenal Ulcer / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D005755:Gastrins / Q000097:blood*; D005756:Gastritis / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000097:blood*; D011863:Radioimmunoassay
chemical_list: D005755:Gastrins; D010446:Peptide Fragments; C013550:gastrin 17