Immunochemical Measurement of Elevated Levels of Gastrin in the Serum of Patients with Pancreatic Tumors of the Zollinger-Ellison Variety

Abstract

A radioiodine-immunoassay technic was used to measure fasting serum gastrin levels in four patients with the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome and 24 patients without gastrointestinal diseases. Serum gastrin levels in all the patients with the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome exceeded by approximately tenfold or greater the mean serum gastrin level of 425 μμg per milliliter in the control population. Gastrin was identified immunochemically in an extract derived from a pancreatic islet-cell tumor from one of the patients with the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome.