Are chemokine and cytokine effective markers of chronic pancreatitis?

Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is a chronic clinical disorder characterized by irreversible damage to the pancreas, the development of histologic evidence of inflammation and fibrosis, and eventually the destruction and permanent loss of exocrine and endocrine tissue. Imaging or function tests may not reveal early CP, and the results of these tests do not necessarily correlate with each other.

A research team led by Tetsuhide Ito from Japan investigated whether serum chemokine and cytokine levels can become useful biological and functional markers to assess the severity of chronic pancreatitis. Their results will be published on November 14, 2008 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology.

One hundred nine patients with CP who fulfilled clinical diagnostic criteria for CP by the Japan Pancreas Society and 116 healthy controls were selected for this study. Serum monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), transforming growth factor beta-1 (TGF-beta1), and soluble type fractalkine (s-fractalkine) concentrations were examined. Relationships between stage-specific various clinical factors and serum MCP-1, TGF-beta1, and s-fractalkine levels were investigated. Furthermore, 57 patients with non-alcoholic CP were similarly evaluated in order to exclude influence of alcohol intake.

Their results showed that patients with CP showed significant higher levels of serum TGF-beta1 and s-fractalkine, but not MCP-1, compared to the controls. Serum TGF-beta1 in the severe stage and s-fractalkine in the mild and the severe stage of CP significantly increased compared to those of controls. However, it was observed that both TGF-beta1 and s-fractalkine levels were affected by alcohol intake. In patients with non-alcoholic CP, serum TGF-beta1 showed significant increase in the moderate stage of CP, and serum s-fractalkine revealed significant increase in the early stage of CP.

Their results indicated that the measurement of serum F-fractalkine is useful to diagnose earlystage CP. Moreover, the combined determination of both, s-fractalkine and TGF-beta1, in human sera may be helpful in evaluating the severity status of CP.

Reference: Yasuda M, Ito T, Oono T, Kawabe K, Kaku T, Igarashi H, Nakamura T, Takayanagi R. Fractalkine and TGF-beta1 levels reflect the severity of chronic pancreatitis in humans. World J Gastroenterol 2008; 14(42): 6488-6495 http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/14/6488.asp

Correspondence to: Tetsuhide Ito, MD, PhD, Department of Medicine and Bioregulatory Science, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashiku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan. itopapa@intmed3.med.kyushu-u.ac.jp Telephone: +81-92-6425285 Fax: +81-92-6425287

World Journal of Gastroenterology (WJG), a leading international journal in gastroenterology and hepatology, has established a reputation for publishing first class research on esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer, viral hepatitis, colorectal cancer, and H pylori infection and provides a forum for both clinicians and scientists. WJG has been indexed and abstracted in Current Contents/Clinical Medicine, Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch) and Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition, Index Medicus, MEDLINE and PubMed, Chemical Abstracts, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Abstracts Journals, Nature Clinical Practice Gastroenterology and Hepatology, CAB Abstracts and Global Health. ISI JCR 2003-2000 IF: 3.318, 2.532, 1.445 and 0.993. WJG is a weekly journal published by WJG Press. The publication dates are the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th day of every month. WJG is supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 30224801 and No. 30424812, and was founded with the name of China National Journal of New Gastroenterology on October 1, 1995, and renamed WJG on January 25, 1998.

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