Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0149521 (chronic pancreatitis)
 7,199 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Chronic pancreatitis is defined by a persistent destruction of the pancreatic parenchyma replaced by fibrosis. The lesions generally start in the exocrine gland, islets being attacked later in the fibrosis. The two most frequent forms are: 1. Chronic calcifying pancreatitis which is a pancreatic lithiasis responsible for more than 95% of chronic pancreatitis. In its most frequent form, calculi are built up of more than 98% calcium salts together with fibres of a degraded residue of lithostathine, a secretory protein. This disease is related (i) in most countries to alcohol, protein, fat and tobacco and (ii) in certain tropical countries to malnutrition (low-fat, low-protein diet) for some generations. A causative role for cassava and kwashiorkor is improbable. The mechanism of calcium precipitation is partly explained by the calcium-saturation of pancreatic juice and the decreased biosynthesis of lithostathine S, the secretory protein preventing crystallization. As a rule, diabetes (and steatorrhoea) appear after a clinical evolution characterized by recurrent attacks of upper abdominal pain, generally lasting some days with transiently increased concentrations of pancreatic enzymes in serum. When diabetes appears, pain frequently disappears. Complications are mostly observed in the first 10 years of clinical evolution. 2. Obstructive pancreatitis is due to an obstacle (tumours, scars) in the pancreatic duct. It is rarely a cause of diabetes. Diabetes due to chronic pancreatitis is characterized by the low incidence of ketosis and the high incidence of insulin-induced hypoglycaemia. Patients are generally thin. Serum insulin levels, either basal or stimulated, are decreased. Glucagon is less affected. Angiopathies and retinopathies are less frequent than in non-insulin-dependent diabetes. Neural complications are fairly frequent. The diagnosis is generally easy because diabetes appears at a late stage of the disease. The treatment generally requires insulin.
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PMID:Chronic pancreatitis and diabetes. 144 67

Impaired secretion of lithostathine, a pancreatic glycoprotein capable of inhibiting the growth of CaCO3 crystals, has been reported in chronic calcifying pancreatitis. Controversial results were obtained, however, using immunoassays with different antibodies. The aim of this study was to purify and to measure juice lithostathine by a non-immunological method. Fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC) on a cation exchange column eluted by a sodium chloride gradient, was used. The conditions appropriate to separate secretory (S) from hydrolysed (H) isoforms of immunopurified lithostathine were also used for juice analysis. Pancreatic juice was collected by endoscopic cannulation of the major pancreatic duct, after secretin stimulation, from eight patients with chronic pancreatitis (CP) and from eight controls. In all samples, S-isoforms of lithostathine (ranging from 16 to 19 Mr at SDS-PAGE) were the only constituent of two of the 15 peaks in which FPLC resolved the pancreatic proteins. The nature of these two peaks was confirmed by their coelution with immunopurified S-lithostathine and by immunoblot analysis with polyclonal anti-lithostathine antibodies. The ratio between the area of S-lithostathine peaks and the total area of proteic eluates, was always lower in CP patients (5.3 micrograms/mg of protein, median value; 0.2-15.4, range) than in controls (35.2 micrograms/mg; 16.6-55.9). It is concluded that lithostathine can be purified and measured in pancreatic juice by FPLC. Our results with a nonimmunological assay confirm a reduced secretion of lithostathine in patients with CP.
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PMID:Purification and assay of secretory lithostathine in human pancreatic juice by fast protein liquid chromatography. 773 74

Both ethanol abuse and protein deficiency are well known associations of chronic pancreatitis. An early event in chronic pancreatitis is the deposition of protein plugs in small pancreatic ducts, leading to ductular obstruction and acinar cell damage. Lithostathine, a pancreatic secretory protein, is a major organic component of protein plugs. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of chronic ethanol administration and dietary protein deficiency, separately and in combination, on messenger RNA (mRNA) levels for pancreatic lithostathine. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed in groups of four, for four weeks, protein sufficient and protein deficient diets with or without ethanol. Messenger RNA levels for pancreatic lithostathine were assessed in all four groups. Both ethanol and protein deficiency, separately and in combination, increased mRNA levels for lithostathine. Thus, both chronic ethanol consumption and dietary protein deficiency increase the capacity of the pancreatic acinar cell to synthesize lithostathine.
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PMID:Both ethanol and protein deficiency increase messenger RNA levels for pancreatic lithostathine. 856 21

We report 11 families of hereditary pancreatitis characterized by the presence of calculi in pancreatic ducts. These were classified as (1) calcic lithiasis (one family with five cases), in which the calculi are composed of >95% calcium salts; and (2) protein lithiasis in 10 families, in which the calculi are composed of degraded amorphous residues of lithostathine, the pancreatic secretory protein that inhibits calcium salt crystallization. In both forms, transmission appears to be dominant. The average age at clinical onset of symptoms is 15 years. The clinical progression seems to be less severe than in alcoholic chronic pancreatitis (alcoholic calcic lithiasis). This report shows for the first time that hereditary chronic pancreatitis is a group of at least two diseases having a similar clinical picture and pathological features but different chemical compositions of calculi. This leads us to propose a revised Marseille-Rome classification.
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PMID:Two forms of hereditary chronic pancreatitis. 872 Jun 59

Lithostathine S2-5 inhibits in vitro crystal growth of CaCO3. We developed an antibody against the peptide region responsible for inhibitory effect to determine whether lithostathine S2-5 levels are different in the pancreatic juice of patients with and without chronic pancreatitis. The antibody against the synthetic peptide of the N-terminal end of lithostathine S2-5 detected lithostathine S2-5 but not lithostathine S1 or lithostathine extracted from pancreatic calculi. Lithostathine S2-5 was detected in samples of pancreatic juice protein by immunoblotting using the specific antibody. The concentration of lithostathine S2-5 was compared between control and chronic pancreatitis groups. The mean concentrations of lithostathine S2-5 were significantly (p=0.002) lower in chronic pancreatitis, 16.3 microg/mg of total protein, than in the control, 47.1 microg/mg of total protein. A decreased concentration of lithostathine S2-5 seems to increase the risk of stone formation in the ducts during the course of chronic pancreatitis because of insufficient inhibition of CaCO3 crystal growth.
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PMID:Quantification of human lithostathine S2-5 forms using the antibody to the N-terminal peptide region. 959 7

Lithostathine may play a physiological role in preventing the precipitation of excess calcium in the pancreatic juice. The hypothesis has been advanced that in chronic calcifying pancreatitis the abnormal biosynthesis of lithostathine might be the original defect to which genetic proneness to the disease may be ascribed. The aim of the present work was to study lithostathine messenger RNA expression in the pancreas of patients with different types of pancreatitis. Lithostathine and chymotrypsinogen mRNA were determined in surgical specimens obtained from the pancreases of the following subjects: (a) 13 patients with chronic alcoholic pancreatitis (84.6% calcified); (b) 4 patients with chronic hereditary pancreatitis (all calcified); (c) 6 patients with chronic obstructive pancreatitis (4 calcified); and (d) 27 subjects suffering from pancreatic cancer. Significantly lower concentrations of both mRNAs were found in the pancreases of chronic pancreatitis patients than in non-cancerous tissue from pancreatic cancer subjects. However, about 70% of the pancreatic cancer subjects showed lithostathine and chymotrypsinogen mRNA levels comparable to those of chronic pancreatitis patients. These results indicate that the decrease in the level of mRNA is not specific to lithostathine and it is unrelated to the presence of pancreatic stones.
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PMID:Lithostathine messenger RNA expression in different types of chronic pancreatitis. 974 20

Human lithostathine was initially isolated from pancreatic stones in patients with alcoholic calcifying chronic pancreatitis. It is secreted into the pancreatic juice where it was believed to inhibit stone formation. The N-terminal undecapeptide was assumed to play an important role in the mechanism, by adsorption to the crystal surface. Later, the role of lithostathine in calcite formation and growth was questioned, together with the associated mechanism of action. In particular, although lithostathine adsorbs on calcite crystal, this property does not now seem to be specific. Moreover, the N-terminal undecapeptide is not likely to have, by itself, the function of the entire protein. The different aspects of this controversy are reviewed and discussed, particularly in the light of recent structural biology. Comparative biological data now available allow us to draw an interesting parallel between lithostathine and other related proteins. Finally, lithostathine might affect stone formation and may also have another function which could be investigated in the other proteins belonging to the same structural family.
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PMID:An insight into the role of human pancreatic lithostathine. 1262 66

Analyses of pancreatic juice by proteomics have identified many proteins that are overabundant in pancreatic cancer (PC) juice. The mechanism by which secretion of these proteins occur remains unclear. Pancreatic juice was collected from patients with three pancreatic diseases: PC, chronic pancreatitis (CP), and simple choledocholithiasis (CDS), and analyzed by 2-DE, MALDI-TOF/MS, and Western blot. Five PC cell lines, 30 PC tissues and their corresponding adjacent pancreatic tissues were used to validate the expression of genes which code for overabundant proteins in PC juice. The mRNA and protein levels were measured by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry, respectively. Using proteomics, it was demonstrated that the protein transthyretin (TTR) was upregulated more than 2-fold in PC juice compared with CP and CDS, while apolipoprotein A-I, lithostathine, and regenerating islet-derived 1 beta precursor were downregulated more than 2-fold. Western blots confirmed that TTR was overabundant in the PC juice. However, TTR mRNA was not detected in any of the five PC cell lines, and was only detected in islet cells. By microscopy, it was shown that islet architecture was almost completely destroyed, and the islet's maximum diameter appeared larger in PC tissues than in normal. Some overabundant proteins in PC juice, such as TTR expressed only in islets, leak into the pancreatic ductal system due to hyperplasia and architectural damage in PC tissues. The destruction of organ and tissue architecture by tumor growth may result in novel tumor markers even if the markers are not secreted directly by tumor cells.
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PMID:Transthyretin, identified by proteomics, is overabundant in pancreatic juice from pancreatic carcinoma and originates from pancreatic islets. 2094 80