Tests for serum levels of trefoil factor family proteins can improve gastric cancer screening.

ABSTRACT:

Background & aims

Improving methods for early detection of gastric cancer could reduce mortality. Measurements of serum pepsinogen levels have been used for screening in Japan without satisfactory levels of sensitivity or specificity. Trefoil factor family (TFF) proteins (TFF1, TFF2, and TFF3) are small and stable molecules secreted by the mammalian gastrointestinal tract. Foveolar hyperplasia, spasmolytic polypeptide (TFF2)-expressing metaplasia, and intestinal metaplasia are histologic changes observed in patients with atrophic gastritis; they express TFF1, TFF2, and TFF3, respectively. We investigated whether serum levels of TFF can be used as markers for gastric cancer screening.

Methods

Serum was collected from 183 patients with gastric cancer and 280 healthy individual

SUBMITTER: Aikou S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3163741 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature