Gastric acid secretions and serum gastrin levels in patients with mucosal and submucosal gastric cancers

Gastric acid secretions and serum gastrin levels have been examined in 128 patients with early gastric cancer and in 98 gastric ulcer patients. Gastric cancer patients were found to have lower acid secretions than did gastric ulcer patients, and those with elevated types of a differentiated adenocarcinoma had lower acid secretions than did those with depressed types of an undifferentiated adenocarcinoma. Gastric acid secretions in patients with both a gastric ulcer and cancer were found to decrease with aging. However, the serum gastrin levels were found to be decreased in patients with a gastric ulcer and to be increased in patients with a gastric cancer. Incidences of a differentiated adenocarcinoma increased with aging. From these observations, it has been speculated that the carcinogenesis of a differentiated adenocarcinoma may be related to increasing endogenous gastrin levels and decreasing gastric acid secretions. These results suggest that a continuous check of the serum gastrin levels might be a good marker for cancer detection and that gastrin antibodies might be useful for treatment.