Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0030305 (pancreatitis)
 16,014 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Within the developing pancreas Hepatic Nuclear Factor 6 (HNF6) directly activates the pro-endocrine transcription factor, Ngn3. HNF6 and Ngn3 are each essential for endocrine differentiation and HNF6 is also required for embryonic duct development. Most HNF6(-/-) animals die as neonates, making it difficult to study later aspects of HNF6 function. Here, we describe, using conditional gene inactivation, that HNF6 has specific functions at different developmental stages in different pancreatic lineages. Loss of HNF6 from Ngn3-expressing cells (HNF6(Delta endo)) resulted in fewer multipotent progenitor cells entering the endocrine lineage, but had no effect on beta cell terminal differentiation. Early, pancreas-wide HNF6 inactivation (HNF6(Delta panc)) resulted in endocrine and ductal defects similar to those described for HNF6 global inactivation. However, all HNF6(Delta panc) animals survived to adulthood. HNF6(Delta panc) pancreata displayed increased ductal cell proliferation and metaplasia, as well as characteristics of pancreatitis, including up-regulation of CTGF, MMP7, and p8/Nupr1. Pancreatitis was most likely caused by defects in ductal primary cilia. In addition, expression of Prox1, a known regulator of pancreas development, was decreased in HNF6(Delta panc) pancreata. These data confirm that HNF6 has both early and late functions in the developing pancreas and is essential for maintenance of Ngn3 expression and proper pancreatic duct morphology.
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PMID:Multiple, temporal-specific roles for HNF6 in pancreatic endocrine and ductal differentiation. 1976 16

Chronic pancreatitis is a well-known risk factor for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) development in humans, and inflammation promotes PDA initiation and progression in mouse models of the disease. However, the mechanistic link between inflammatory damage and PDA initiation is unclear. Using a Kras-driven mouse model of PDA, we establish that the inflammatory mediator Stat3 is a critical component of spontaneous and pancreatitis-accelerated PDA precursor formation and supports cell proliferation, metaplasia-associated inflammation, and MMP7 expression during neoplastic development. Furthermore, we show that Stat3 signaling enforces MMP7 expression in PDA cells and that MMP7 deletion limits tumor size and metastasis in mice. Finally, we demonstrate that serum MMP7 level in human patients with PDA correlated with metastatic disease and survival.
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PMID:Stat3 and MMP7 contribute to pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma initiation and progression. 2148 82

Early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer (PC) is critical to reduce the mortality rate of this disease. Current biological analysis approaches cannot robustly detect several low abundance PC biomarkers in sera, limiting the clinical application of these biomarkers. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay and radioimmunoassay are two common platforms for detection of biomarkers; however, they suffer from some limitation. This study demonstrates a novel system for multiplex detection of pancreatic biomarkers CA19-9, MMP7 and MUC4 in sera samples with high sensitivity using surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy. Measuring the levels of these biomarkers in PC patients, pancreatitis patients, and healthy individuals reveals the unique expression pattern of these markers in PC patients, suggesting the great potential of using this approach for early diagnostics of PCs.
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PMID:Multiplex detection of pancreatic cancer biomarkers using a SERS-based immunoassay. 2893 61