While epidemiological evidence from patients with elevated serum gastrin levels related to pernicious anaemia does not support an increased risk for colon cancer, a recent study suggests that prolonged hypergastrinaemia is associated with an increased risk for colon cancer.
For these reasons we studied the values of some markers of PA in a group of 79 first-degree relatives and we detected that the most frequent abnormalities are a decrease in serum pepsinogen I (22.7% of cases), an increase in serum gastrin (16.5% of cases) and in parietal cell antibody at a titer >or=40 (23.4% of cases).
The total prevalence of chronic gastritis was similar in the two groups, but severe atrophic gastritis of the body of the stomach (AGB), achlorhydria, parietal cell antibodies, and a raised fasting serum gastrin level were significantly more common in PA relatives than in controls.
Receiver Operating Curves (ROC) were used to compare diagnostic accuracy of gastrin and pepsinogen-I for PA in patients under chronic treatment with PPIs and in untreated patients.
The results recommend serum PG I and serum gastrin, but not parietal cell antibody, as tests for severe atrophic gastritis in relatives of patients with pernicious anemia.