Researchers measured a hormone-like peptide called kisspeptin-54 in the blood of people with stomach cancer and found it was higher than in healthy people. While this could help doctors detect the disease, it doesn't give any direct advice on how to use kisspeptin-54 for improving health or performance.

Kisspeptin (Kisspeptin-54; KP-54) is a 54-amino acid peptide was originally known as metastin that was implicated in suppression of tumor metastasis and circulating kisspeptin has been proposed as a tumor marker for numerous cancers in humans. However, the plasma level of KP-54 in gastric cancer (GC) remains undetermined. We aimed to investigate the plasma levels of KP-54 in patients with GC. Plasma KP-54 levels were quantified with enzyme-immunoassay from blood samples of 40 patients with GC at their initial staging and 59 age-matched controls. Plasma KP-54 levels were significantly higher in GC patients (63.3±17.9) than in controls (49.0±12.7) (p=0.000). Cut-off value for KP-54 was determined as 44 ng/ml and sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value, were 60%, 78%, 63%, and 74% respectively. Plasma KP-54 levels were not correlated with any clinicopathological features of GC patients (p>0.05). Result of our preliminary study suggest that plasma KP-54 levels might be a useful parameter in diagnosis of GC.