Clinical investigation of serum deoxyribonuclease: II. Clinical studies of serum deoxyribonuclease activity in pancreatic disease.

Serum Deoxyribonuclease (DNase) of normal persons and of patients with chronic pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer, Diabetes Mellitus, or other malignant diseases was determined with (32P) DNA as substrate. Serum DNase activity was much lower in patients with chronic pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer, or other malignant diseases than in control subjects, and serum DNase activity was almost normal in patients with Diabetes Mellitus. There was no correlation between serum DNase and serum amylase, but there was a good correlation between serum DNase and DNase I output in duodenal juice. There was an inverse correlation between serum DNase and serum RNase. These results imply that in the diagnosis of possible pancreatic disorders serum DNase may be a good indicator and thus may be useful for the detection of malignant diseases.