Postprandial gastrin-17 level is a useful dynamic marker for atrophic gastritis

Abstract

Atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia may progress to gastric malignancy. Non-invasive serum biomarkers have been extensively studied and proven to be useful as a screening tool to stratify risk and identify patients for endoscopy to detect early gastric cancer. These non-invasive biomarkers have been endorsed and recommended by many international consensus guidelines. In this letter, we reviewed the literature and evidence supporting the use of serum biomarkers as a dynamic test to monitor the status of atrophic gastritis.

Keywords: Atrophic gastritis; Pepsinogen; Gastrin-17; Gastric cancer; Biomarkers

Core Tip: Serological markers such as pepsinogen and gastrin-17 (G-17) have been proposed as useful surrogate biomarkers for atrophic gastritis. Previous studies have shown that patients with atrophic corpus gastritis have low pepsinogen-I and pepsinogen ratio values but high G-17 levels, whereas patients with atrophic antral gastritis have low G-17 levels. Low serum levels of pepsinogen and G-17 are predictive of extensive gastric atrophy and early gastric cancer. Kotelevets et al demonstrated the sensitivity of postprandial gastrin levels in gastric atrophy can be improved with a specific cut-off level. Postprandial G-17 levels may serve as dynamic markers for atrophic gastritis.