Although a substantial part of the gastric adenocarcinomas express gastrin and CCKBR, the role of gastrin in tumor development is not completely understood.
Despite the absence of CCK receptors from many gastrointestinal adenocarcinomas, evidence from animal models and from tumour cell lines in vitro suggests that the CCK-2 receptor may contribute to the development of esophageal and gastric adenocarcinomas, and further experimental work in these areas is clearly warranted.
Using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reactions, CCK-B receptor mRNA was expressed in all specimens of normal fetal and postnatal human pancreas, adult pancreas, and pancreatic adenocarcinomas.