Local Synthesis of Pepsin in Barrett’s Esophagus and the Role of Pepsin in Esophageal Adenocarcinoma

Abstract

Pepsin is synthesized by metaplastic, Barrett's esophageal mucosa. Nonacid pepsin increases metrics of tumorigenicity in esophageal epithelial cells in vitro. These findings implicate refluxed and locally synthesized pepsin in development and progression of EAC and, in part, explain the inefficacy of PPIs in the prevention of EAC.