[Anders Jahres PRIZE 1996. Current biological and clinical aspects of gastrointestinal hormones]

1996, the great Jahre Prize for medical research was shared by Professor Jens F Rehfeld of Copenhagen and Professor Mårten Wikström of Helsinki. Jens Rehfeld is one of the world's leading experts on peptide hormones and neuropeptides, and his research has contributed much to our understanding of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and central nervous system. So many gastrointestinal hormones have now been recognised, that the alimentary canal is considered to constitute the body's largest endocrine organ. Moreover, many hormones occur in several molecular forms and are also synthesised as neurotransmitters in the brain and the peripheral nervous system, and both in classic endocrine cells and cells of the common mucosa. Finally, a number of common tumours also synthesise intestinal peptides that function as growth factors. Gastrointestinal hormones should therefore be interpreted as being intercellular regulators, that are possibly more crucially involved in cancer, diabetes and neuropsychological diseases than in disorders of gastrointestinal secretion and motility.