Inflammation and cancer III. Somatostatin and the innate immune system.

In the stomach, somatostatin is secreted from D cells and is a potent inhibitor of gastrin-induced acid secretion. During bacterial infection, somatostatin expression and release are suppressed. As a result, gastric infection often induces hypergastrinemia that, in turn, stimulates gastric acid secretion, the stomach's most important antimicrobial agent. There are an abundance of data showing that inflammatory cytokines regulate somatostatin in immune and neural cells. However, it was not until recently that the immunoregulation of gastric somatostatin was studied in vivo. This theme article discusses the role of somatostatin as an immunoregulatory peptide during gastritis.