Role of Endogenous Peptides and Enzymes in the Pathogenesis of Acute Pancreatitis: A Review

Acute pancreatitis is an inflammatory disease with the clinical manifestation of acute abdominal pain. Several factors are involved in the pathogenesis of acute pancreatitis. The exact mechanism(s) by which diverse etiological factors induce an attack are still unclear. However, one of the proposed mechanisms for induction of acute pancreatitis is auto-digestion of pancreatic tissues by unwanted activation of pancreatic digestive enzymes. The main objective of this review is to describe the pathogenesis mechanism of acute pancreatitis that are related to various inflammatory and pro-inflammatory mediators.

Keywords
Acute pancreatitis; Pancreatic injury; Cytokines; Chemokines; Inflammation