Insulin offers new hope for the treatment of acute pancreatitis

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-08/uom-ion082114.php

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 21-Aug-2014

Contact: Morwenna Grills
University of Manchester
Insulin offers new hope for the treatment of acute pancreatitis

Acute pancreatitis involves the pancreas digesting itself resulting in severe abdominal pain, vomiting and systemic inflammation. Every year in the UK around 20,000 patients are diagnosed with the disease resulting in 1000 deaths. There is no immediate cure and treatment is restricted to intravenous fluid and nutritional support.

Dr Jason Bruce, from the Faculty of Life Sciences, who led the research, said "The major causes of pancreatitis include bile acid reflux from gall stones and excessive alcohol intake combined with a high fat diet. In fact, the incidence of acute pancreatitis significantly increases during the Christmas period when alcohol and fat consumption is at its highest amongst the general population. When alcohol and fat accumulate inside pancreatic acinar cells — the cells that secrete digestive enzymes into the gut — the resulting small molecules called metabolites deplete cellular energy levels and increase cellular calcium. This causes uncontrolled and catastrophic cell death and the cells burst, releasing their toxic enzymes which digest the pancreas and surrounding tissue."

However, recent research from Dr Bruce's laboratory published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, shows that insulin, which is normally released from the beta cells of the pancreas, prevents these toxic effects of alcohol and fatty acid metabolites.

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