What Are The Essential Characteristics Of Serum PG In Chinese?

Main Category: GastroIntestinal / Gastroenterology
Also Included In: Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 20 Jan 2008 - 9:00 PDT

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Pepsinogen (PG) is a precursor for pepsin, a digestive enzyme specifically produced in the gastric mucosa. Human PG can be classified into two different biochemical and immunological properties, PGI and PGII. Serum PG levels seem to be related to the morphologic and functional changes in the stomach, and used as "serological biopsy." In most Western countries, serum PG testing has been focused on the identification of individuals for intervention studies, whereas in Japan it is used as a part of gastric cancer screening. However, the limited knowledge about serum PG characteristics in Chinese may prejudice the assessment of consistency.

A research article published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology (volume 13, issue 48) addresses this question. The research team, led by Prof. Yuan Yuan from China Medical University, spent more than 6 years working with a total of 6990 subjects who underwent large-scale surveys of gastric cancer. The large sample size allowed them to obtain results with high statistical significance and draw very reliable conclusions.

One conclusion reported by the investigators is the essential characteristics of serum PG levels in Chinese are significantly skewed from the normal distribution, and influenced by age, sex, gastric mucosa lesions and H pylori infection. However, thorough investigation is needed for researchers to identify the normal distribution in different age and gender groups by stratification. The investigators suggested these factors, such as being of the male sex, age > 60 years, atrophic lesion and H pylori infection, should be taken into account in the screening of gastric cancer by PG test.

Another conclusion is that PG I/II ratio is better than either PG I or PG II alone in reflecting the development of atrophic lesions on gastric mucosa. Thus, it is can be used for further investigation as a screening tool in the first period.

In this study, the essential characteristics of serum PG in Chinese are described. The results suggest a practical future of serum PG I/II ratio as an effective serological indicator for identifying subgroups with different influence factors. The population-based study reported by Prof. Yuan Yuan is surely of interest to the public and medical professional involved in gastric cancer screening in China.

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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Reference: Sun LP, Gong YH, Wang L, Yuan Y. Serum pepsinogen levels and their influencing factors: A population-based study in 6990 Chinese from North China. World J Gastroenterol 2007; 13(48): 6562-6567 http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/13/6562.asp

Correspondence to: Professor Dr. Yuan Yuan, Cancer Institute, First Affiliated Hospital, China Medical University, No.155 Nanjing North Street, Shenyang 110001, Liaoning Province, China.

About World Journal of Gastroenterology

World Journal of Gastroenterology (WJG), a leading international journal in gastroenterology and hepatology, has established a reputation for publishing first class research on esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer, viral hepatitis, colorectal cancer, and H pylori infection and provides a forum for both clinicians and scientists. WJG has been indexed and abstracted in Current Contents/Clinical Medicine, Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch) and Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition, Index Medicus, MEDLINE and PubMed, Chemical Abstracts, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Abstracts Journals, Nature Clinical Practice Gastroenterology and Hepatology, CAB Abstracts and Global Health. ISI JCR 2003-2000 IF: 3.318, 2.532, 1.445 and 0.993. WJG is a weekly journal published by WJG Press. The publication dates are the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th day of every month. The WJG is supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 30224801 and No. 30424812, and was founded with the name of China National Journal of New Gastroenterology on October 1, 1995, and renamed WJG on January 25, 1998.

About The WJG Press

The WJG Press mainly publishes World Journal of Gastroenterology.

Source: Jing Zhu
World Journal of Gastroenterology