High performance liquid chromatography enables fast determination of ratios between individual proteolytic enzymes in human gastric mucosa.

The human gastric mucosa contains five isozymogens of pepsinogen (pepsinogens PGA1-PGA5), two isozymogens of gastricsinogen (gastricsinogens PGC6-PGC7) and zymogens of cathepsins. Ratios between some individual pepsins or pepsinogens are very important from a diagnostic point of view. The ratio of pepsinogen 3 to pepsinogen 5 is significant marker of gastric cancer and gastric ulcer. High-performance ion-exchange chromatography is an easy and fast method for determination of ratios between individual proteolytic zymogens in human gastric mucosa and thus could serve for additional diagnosis of gastric diseases.