(Press-News.org) JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Researchers at Mayo Clinic in Florida have revealed the process by which chronic inflammation of the pancreas, pancreatitis, morphs into pancreatic cancer. They say their findings point to ways to identify pancreatitis patients at risk of pancreatic cancer and to potential drug therapies that might reverse the process.
The study, published online today in The Journal of Cell Biology, maps how inflammation pushes acinar cells in the pancreas -- those that produce digestive enzymes -- to transform into duct-like cells. As these cells change, they can acquire mutations that can result in further progression to pancreatic cancer, says senior author Peter Storz, Ph.D., a biochemist and molecular biologist at Mayo Clinic.
"We don't know why these cells reprogram themselves, but it may be because producing enzymes in an organ that is injured due to inflammation may cause more damage," Dr. Storz says. "The good news, however, is that this process is reversible, and we identified a number of molecules involved in this pathway that might be targeted to help push these new duct-like cells back into acinar cells, thus eliminating the risk of cancer development."
The scientists are testing the ability of drugs already on the market to reverse this cellular transformation in the pancreas in mice models of human pancreatic cancer. Dr. Storz's research team traced the pathway leading from inflammation in the pancreas to development of cancer in the organ. They followed what happened once macrophages responded to an inflamed pancreas. Macrophages are a type of white blood cell that eats foreign material in the body.
"The belief in the field has been that macrophages were there to remove damaged cells in the organ," Dr. Storz says. "We found they weren't that benign. In fact, we discovered macrophages themselves drive the transformation and provide the setting for development of cancer."
The research team also discovered that if the pancreas is inflamed, fluid from the pancreas contains signaling molecules that induce acinar cells to transform into duct-like cells. Study co-author Massimo Raimondo, M.D., a gastroenterologist, is part of a Mayo team that has developed a method to collect this fluid from the pancreas during a routine upper endoscopy test.
"We want to also investigate whether these two enzymes can serve as an early warning system, a marker of pancreatic cancer risk, in patients with pancreatitis," Dr. Storz says.
"Our hope is that we can detect that risk before cancer happens, and use a treatment that reverses any possibility that pancreatic cancer will develop," he says.
###
The study was supported by National Institutes of Health grants (CA135102, CA140182 and CA159222), the American Association for Cancer Research, and a Mayo Clinic SPORE in Pancreatic Cancer grant.
Co-authors include Geou-Yarh Liou, Ph.D., Heike Doeppler, Brian Necela, Ph.D., Murli Krishna, M.D., and Howard Crawford, Ph.D.
About Mayo Clinic Cancer Center
As a leading institution funded by the National Cancer Institute, Mayo Clinic Cancer Center conducts basic, clinical and population science research, translating discoveries into improved methods for prevention, diagnosis, prognosis and therapy. For information on cancer clinical trials, call 507-538-7623.
About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit worldwide leader in medical care, research and education for people from all walks of life. For more information, visit http://www.mayoclinic.com and http://www.mayoclinic.org/news.
Journalists can become a member of the Mayo Clinic News Network for the latest health, science and research news and access to video, audio, text and graphic elements that can be downloaded or embedded.
Mayo Clinic researchers decode origin of inflammation-driven pancreatic cancer
2013-08-05
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Obese black Americans half as likely as whites to have bariatric surgery
2013-08-05
White Americans who are obese are twice as likely as black Americans to have surgery to tackle the problem, a study has found.
Bariatric surgery is now recognised as a successful treatment for preventing serious complications of obesity such as diabetes and high blood pressure. The new study is one of the first to look at whether people who need surgery most are actually receiving it.
Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina and Imperial College London studied rates of bariatric surgery in the US from 1999 to 2010.
Twenty-two per cent of black women ...
Looking to the past to predict the future of climate change
2013-08-05
FROSTBURG, MD (August 5, 2013)—Climate changes how species interact with one another—and not just today. Scientists are studying trends from fossil records to understand how climate change impacted the world in the ancient past and to identify ways to predict how things may change in the future, according to a new study published in the August 2 issue of Science.
Climate change has occurred repeatedly throughout Earth's history, but the recent rate of global warming far exceeds that of any previous episode in the past 10,000 years or longer. Knowing how climate change ...
Not only bone density, but also quality of bone predicts fracture risk
2013-08-05
In a study carried out at the University of Eastern Finland, bone histomorphometry and infrared spectroscopy revealed abnormal bone properties in children with vertebral fractures and in children after solid organ transplantation. Bone compositional changes in children with vertebral fractures and after different types of organ transplantation have not been reported previously.
Bone samples were investigated using bone histomorphometry, a microscopic method that provides information about bone metabolism and remodelling. In children with vertebral fractures, there were ...
Breastfeeding may reduce Alzheimer's risk
2013-08-05
The report, newly published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, suggests that the link may be to do with certain biological effects of breastfeeding. For example, breastfeeding restores insulin tolerance which is significantly reduced during pregnancy, and Alzheimer's is characterised by insulin resistance in the brain.
Although they used data gathered from a very small group of just 81 British women, the researchers observed a highly significant and consistent correlation between breastfeeding and Alzheimer's risk. They argue that this was so strong that any potential ...
Heterogeneous nanoblocks give polymers an edge
2013-08-05
Building structures by mixing lego bricks of two different sizes is child's play. However, studying polymers endowed with an alternating nanostructure made of heterogeneous blocks is anything but straightforward. Theoretical physicist Mark Matsen, based at the University of Reading, UK, studies polymer mixes consisting of two-fold (AB) and three-fold (BAB) combinations of two types of nanoscale blocks. He has shown, in a study published in EPJ E, that the underlying heterogeneity of the blocks can cause polymers to switch to different nanoscale patterns and therefore display ...
Study highlights need for more social responsibility by online gaming industry
2013-08-05
Online game companies need to be more socially responsible for over-addictive use of their products to avoid government intervention, according to a new study by Cardiff, Derby and Nottingham Trent universities.
The study, in the journal Addiction Research and Theory, was led by Dr Shumaila Yousafzai of Cardiff Business School with psychologists Dr Zaheer Hussain and Professor Mark Griffiths from the University of Derby and Nottingham Trent University respectively.
While conventional videogames have an ending, or may become boring and repetitive, Massively Multiplayer ...
Understanding interface properties of graphene paves way for new applications
2013-08-05
Researchers from North Carolina State University and the University of Texas have revealed more about graphene's mechanical properties and demonstrated a technique to improve the stretchability of graphene – developments that should help engineers and designers come up with new technologies that make use of the material.
Graphene is a promising material that is used in technologies such as transparent, flexible electrodes and nanocomposites. And while engineers think graphene holds promise for additional applications, they must first have a better understanding of its ...
Feelings for fetus may vary smoking amount
2013-08-05
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A small new study suggests that pregnant smokers with low scores on a scale that rates emotional attachment to their fetuses may be inclined to smoke more than pregnant smokers who feel more attached to their future babies.
"It would make sense psychologically that women who feel less attached to their fetus are going to smoke more, because they aren't necessarily thinking about the repercussions," said Dr. Susanna Magee, lead author of the study published online July 28 in the Maternal and Child Health Journal. Magee is an assistant ...
An infallible quantum measurement
2013-08-05
This news release is available in German and German.
Quantum computation, quantum communication and quantum cryptography often require entanglement. For many of these upcoming quantum technologies, entanglement – this hard to grasp, counter-intuitive aspect in the quantum world – is a key ingredient. Therefore, experimental physicists often need to verify entanglement in their systems. "Two years ago, we managed to verify entanglement between up to 14 ions", explains Thomas Monz. He works in the group of Rainer Blatt at the Institute for Experimental Physics, ...
Necrostatin-1 counteracts aluminum's neurotoxic effects
2013-08-05
Amsterdam, NL, August 2, 2013 – Investigators have linked aluminum accumulation in the brain as a possible contributing factor to neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. A new study published in Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience sheds light on the mechanism underlying aluminum-induced neuronal cell death and identifies necrostatin-1 as a substance which counteracts several of aluminum's neurotoxic effects.
Researchers have long focused on why neurons die in degenerative diseases. One process is apoptosis, a form of gene-directed programmed cell death ...