Pluripotent embryonic cells become progressively lineage restricted during development in a process that culminates in the differentiation of stable organ-specific cell types that perform specialized functions. Terminally differentiated pancreatic acinar cells do not have the innate capacity to contribute to the endocrine β cell lineage, which is destroyed in individuals with autoimmune diabete...

Pancreatic acinar cells in various rodent species are capable of undergoing modulation to duct-like structures upon extended exposure to pancreatic carcinogens. Although the majority of malignant pancreatic neoplasms induced in rat and guinea pig are of acinar cell origin, some adenocarcinomas closely resembling those of ductal derivation have been reported. In hamster, on the other hand, carci...

To examine mechanisms that might be related to biliary pancreatitis, we examined the effects of pancreatic duct ligation (PDL) with pancreatic stimulation in vivo. PDL alone caused no increase in pancreatic levels of trypsinogen activation peptide (TAP), trypsin, or chymotrypsin and did not initiate pancreatitis. Although bombesin caused zymogen activation within the pancreas, the increases wer...

BACKGROUND Previous studies have shown that, cultured rat pancreatic carcinoma cells, derived from azaserine-induced acinar tumours, yield tumours with a ductal phenotype. MATERIALS AND METHODS In order to find out the molecular characteristics of this tumour model, tumour suppressor protein (p53), apoptosis inhibiting protein (Bcl-2) and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) expressions ...

We have previously established that secretory proteins from a rat acinar cell tumor lack two forms of procarboxypeptidase B, are deficient in a major lipase species, and possess markedly reduced amounts of the basic proteins proelastase, basic chymotrypsinogen, basic trypsinogen and ribonuclease (Iwanij, V., and J.D. Jamieson, J. Cell Biol., 95:734-741). Because secretory proteins are markers f...

INTRODUCTION Pancreatic tumors usually display either a ductal, an acinar or an endocrine differentiation. Mixed exocrine and endocrine pancreatic tumors are extremely rare. There have been a few reports of the rare entity of mixed acinar-endocrine carcinoma of the pancreas, where the endocrine cells represent more than 30% of the tumor. We herein describe a case of such a pancreatic tumor in a...