The regenerative medicine field is expanding with great successes in laboratory and preclinical settings. Pancreatic acinar cells in diabetic mice were recently converted into β-cells by treatment with ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) and epidermal growth factor (EGF). This suggests that human acinar cells might become a cornerstone for diabetes cell therapy in the future, if they can also be...

BACKGROUND Acinar cell carcinoma of the pancreas is a rare malignancy representing less than 1% of all pancreatic malignancies. METHODS We report on a case series of 21 patients with acinar cell carcinoma of the pancreas treated at a high-volume quaternary center. A systematic review of the medical literature was performed that described typical therapeutic management approaches for acinar ce...

The relationship between pancreatic fibrosis and apoptosis of pancreatic acinar cells has not been fully elucidated. We reported that taurine had an anti-fibrotic effect in a dibutyltin dichloride (DBTC)-chronic pancreatitis model. However, the effect of taurine on apoptosis of pancreatic acinar cells is still unclear. Therefore, we examined apoptosis in DBTC-chronic pancreatitis and in the AR4...

Introduction Pancreatic acinar cell carcinoma (ACC) is a relatively rare neoplasm. Furthermore, tumor rupture extremely rare. Only 1 case of ruptured pancreatic ACC has been reported, and the long-term outcome unknown. Here, we present spontaneously with survival after successful resection. Case Presentation A 67-year-old man was brought to our hospital by ambulance, presenting progressive left...

CONTEXT Only a few studies are available in the literature regarding the AgNOR (argyrophilic nucleolar organizer region) count in pancreatic adenocarcinoma but studies on the SAPA (subjective AgNOR pattern assessment) score are completely lacking. OBJECTIVE We attempted to estimate the AgNOR count and the SAPA score in carcinoma of the pancreatic head including periampullary tumors and to cor...

Two cases of stage IV acinar carcinoma of the pancreas are presented. The two patients were treated with several lines of chemotherapies active against colon cancer. At last-line, both patients received panitumumab monotherapy. We describe the tumour response to the different therapies. Our findings demonstrate that panitumumab produces objective responses when used as third-line treatment in t...

CT: computed tomography EUS: endoscopic ultrasound scan IPMN: intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm MRCP: magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography MPD: main pancreatic duct INTRODUCTION Pancreatic panniculitis is a rare skin manifestation of pancreatic disease. It is believed to result from seepage of pancreatic enzymes into the systemic circulation, which leads to skin and occasionally jo...

We investigated the apoptotic pathway activated by crambene (1-cyano-2-hydroxy-3-butene), a plant nitrile, on pancreatic acinar cells. As evidenced by annexin V-FITC staining, crambene treatment for 3 h induced the apoptosis but not necrosis of pancreatic acini. Caspase-3, -8, and -9 activities in acini treated with crambene were significantly higher than in untreated acini. Treatment with casp...

Adenylate cyclase activity in pancreatic acinar cell membranes was determined in rats that had undergone a treatment with pentagastrin (250 micrograms/kg, intraperitoneal three times daily) for 1 week or that had undergone small bowel resection (90%) and were sacrified at 2 weeks, 1 month and 6 months after intervention. Both treatments are potent stimulators of pancreatic acinar cell prolifera...

Purpose: We have generated an EL1-luc/TAg transgenic mouse model that develops spontaneous and bioluminescent acinar cell carcinomas. We applied this model to noninvasively monitor tumor development and drug response. Experimental Design: EL1-luc/TAg transgenic mice of 11 weeks of age were treated with rapamycin (5 mg/kg, i.p.) or vehicle for 6 to 12 weeks. Tumor development was monitored throu...