Abstract

Gastrin is trophic to colon cancers that possess gastrin receptors. Whether fasting serum gastrin concentrations are high in patients with colon cancer is controversial. We therefore studied the effect of food on serum gastrin concentrations in patients with colon cancer and control subjects. Fasting serum gastrin was greater, though not significantly so, in patients with colon cancer before surgery (mean (SD) 17.4 (3.6) pmol/l, n = 16) compared with control subjects (12.6 (1.9) pmol/l, n = 14). Postprandial increases in serum gastrin were significantly and persistently higher than normal in the cancer patients. These increases were due to a subset of six patients with serum gastrin concentrations greater than the control mean + 2 SD at 20 and 40 minutes (62 pmol/l-146 pmol/l). Four of the six patients had intra-abdominal metastases. The extent of the increase may well correlate with that of the disease. Surgical resection of the tumour resulted in a fall in serum gastrin values and probably reflects the cause of the hypergastrinaemia. Hypergastrinaemia may, therefore, be an important aetiological factor in colon carcinogenesis.