Development of a transgenic mouse model of hereditary pancreatitis. Tejinderjit Singh Atliwal Hereditaiy pancreatitis, a rare autosomal dominant condition, presents with recurrent episodes of acute pancreatitis and usually progresses to chronic pancreatitis with patients at an increased risk of developing pancreatic adenocarcinoma. The majority of patients are carriers of either the R122H or N29I mutation in the cationic trypsinogen gene (PRSS1), one of the most abundant digestive enzymes

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... ed by the pancreas. The mutations are thought to increase autoactivation of the proenzyme cationic trypsinogen to trypsin within the acinar cell, initiating a digestive enzyme cascade leading to pancreatitis, A genetically modified mouse model expressing wild type (wt) or mutant human PRSS1 may be exploited to study the molecular events in hereditary pancreatitis.