| abstract |
Pancreatic disease can be diagnosed by assaying a patient's body fluid, e.g. serum or urine, for the activation peptides of pancreatic zymogens specifically cleaved by proteolysis during activation, (PAP) e.g. peptides including the sequence D4K having the lysine as the carboxy terminus. When PAP is assayed for, the test provides a means for distinguishing necrotising acute pancreatitis from oedematous acute pancreatitis, provides for diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis in exacerbation, and permits monitoring of the severity progress of the disease. Also described are antibodies having specificity for the pancreatic activation peptides, as well as such peptides and antibodies which are labelled with revealing agents and/or immobilized on solid supports, and their use in diagnostic test kits. |