Serum pepsinogen A and pepsin secretion in duodenal ulcer: Helicobacter pylori influence.

Serum pepsinogen A (PGA) and total pepsin activity (PA) in gastric juice were investigated in 87 duodenal ulcer patients. The analysis of data shows a significant increase of PGA and PA in comparison with controls. The grouping of duodenal ulcer patients according to Helicobacter Pylori (HP) infection revealed in HP positive patients a significant increase of PGA, while PA does not change. This contrast may be due to various factors: in particular the two parameters are an expression of different cellular activities and the PA in gastric juice is expression of all pepsinogens. It can be concluded that the damaging action of HP on duodenal mucosa is due to a direct action and not related to alteration of pepsin activity in gastric juice. Moreover, serum PGA can be held as useful parameter of HP infection.