[Pancreatic stone protein, a new marker for chronic pancreatitis].

A CaCO3 precipitation and crystal growth inhibitor has recently been isolated from pancreatic calculi and from pancreatic juice. It is a glycoprotein with a molecular weight of 14,000, whose probable physiological role is the stabilization of exocrine pancreatic secretion which is normally supersaturated with CaCO3. It is hoped to determine a simple, but sensitive assay of this new protein on pancreatic juice and on serum, a decrease in which could be a marker for chronic pancreatitis.