Researchers have long known that there is a link between pancreatic injury and cancer, but the underlying mechanisms behind that connection have proven elusive. Now, a study published October 22 in Gastroenterology reveals key mutations that explain how the very cells that aid in healing can give rise to cancer, finally shedding light on a process of tumor formation and progression that’s long left researchers confused.
The discovery is likely “going to be of lasting importance to the field,” says University of Utah geneticist and pancreatic cancer researcher Charles Murtaugh, who didn’t work on the study.
The pancreas plays a key role in digesting food and regulating blood sugar. When the pancreas is inflamed, either from physical injuries or inflammatory diseases like pancreatitis, the organ’s secretory acinar cells lose their defining characteristics and revert to a stem cell-like state via a process called acinar-to-ductal metaplasia (ADM). From there, the cells ...
