title: Marked increase of trypsin(ogen) in serum of linitis plastica (gastric cancer, borrmann 4) patients.
abstract: Linitis plastica, or Borrmann 4 gastric cancer, shows very poor prognosis, and the reason has not been understood. In the present study, we examined serum levels of trypsin(ogen) in 44 gastric cancer patients, including 17 early gastric cancer, 18 non-Borrmann 4 advanced gastric cancer, and 9 Borrmann 4 gastric cancer, by using the RIA gnost Trypsin kit (Hoechst Japan, Tokyo, Japan), which was expected to detect trypsin-1, trypsin-2, trypsinogen-1, and trypsinogen-2 in sera. The trypsin(ogen) concentration was much higher in the patients with linitis plastica than in the other gross types of gastric cancer. Hypertrypsinemia was identified in approximately 60% of advanced gastric cancer cases. Lymph node involvement, liver metastasis, or poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma is an important factor of hypertrypsinemia. The serum trypsin(ogen) level in linitis plastica patients was 3484.4 +/- 2319.7 ng/ml (mean +/- SD), which was significantly higher not only than that of the early gastric cancer (384.1 +/- 92.1) but also the stage IV gastric cancer patients (578 +/- 440.4), excluding those with linitis plastica. The elevated serum trypsinogen level in linitis plastica patients may be related to the malignant behavior of this type of cancer cell. Serum trypsin(ogen) of linitis plastica shows significantly higher concentrations than do the other types of advanced gastric cancer. Therefore, serum concentration of trypsin(ogen) might be a good marker of gastric cancer of linitis plastica.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Surgery, Yokohoma City University School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ichikawa
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Koshikawa
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Momiyama
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kunizaki
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Moriwaki
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Akiyama
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamaoka
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yanoma
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tsuburaya
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nagashima
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shimada
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Miyazaki
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008039:Linitis Plastica / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology; D014357:Trypsin / Q000097:blood*; D014362:Trypsinogen / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D014362:Trypsinogen; D014357:Trypsin