Serum pepsinogen I as a predictor of stomach cancer.

Among 7498 Japanese men who were examined from 1967 to 1970, 48 were subsequently diagnosed with stomach cancer and had premorbid stored sera available for serum pepsinogen I analysis. The median interval between serum collection and diagnosis of cancer was 44.5 months (range, 3 to 103 months). A low pepsinogen I level was found in 15 of the 48 patients with stomach cancer and in only six (6.3%) of 96 matched control subjects (p < 0.001). All 15 patients with low pepsinogen I levels belonged to the subgroup of 38 who had the intestinal-mixed-other histologic types of gastric cancer. This finding indicates that a low serum pepsinogen I level is a subclinical marker of increased risk for these histologic types of gastric cancer.