Pancreatitis News and Research

RSS

Pancreatitis is inflammation of the pancreas. The pancreas is a large gland behind the stomach and close to the duodenum—the first part of the small intestine. The pancreas secretes digestive juices, or enzymes, into the duodenum through a tube called the pancreatic duct. Pancreatic enzymes join with bile—a liquid produced in the liver and stored in the gallbladder—to digest food. The pancreas also releases the hormones insulin and glucagon into the bloodstream. These hormones help the body regulate the glucose it takes from food for energy.

Normally, digestive enzymes secreted by the pancreas do not become active until they reach the small intestine. But when the pancreas is inflamed, the enzymes inside it attack and damage the tissues that produce them.

Pancreatitis can be acute or chronic. Either form is serious and can lead to complications. In severe cases, bleeding, infection, and permanent tissue damage may occur.

IU researcher uncovers potential new approach for treating pancreatic cancer

Researchers at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified how restoring a missing molecule in pancreatic fibrosis could help deliver treatments to cancer cells.

14 Sep 2021

Study opens up a new approach to incorporating MRI into multisite pancreatic clinical trials

Researchers with the Vanderbilt Diabetes Research and Training Center (DRTC) at Vanderbilt University Medical Center led a multisite study which has demonstrated that, when controlled and standardized, quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the pancreas is highly reproducible when using different MRI hardware and software at different geographic locations.

28 Aug 2021

Diabetes drug’s new weight loss formula fuels cost-benefit debate

The long list of side effects that follow ads for the newer expensive drugs to treat Type 2 diabetes sometimes include an unusual warning: They might cause weight loss. That side effect is one that many people — especially those with Type 2 diabetes, which is associated with obesity — may desperately want.

30 Jul 2021

More popular type of antihypertensive drugs causes slightly more side effects

Two types of drugs that are recommended as a first treatment for patients with high blood pressure were found equally effective in improving cardiovascular outcomes, but the more popular type causes slightly more side effects, finds a multinational observational study led by researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.

26 Jul 2021

Two types of blood pressure drugs provide equal benefits, but side effects differ

People who are just beginning treatment for high blood pressure can benefit equally from two different classes of medicine - angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) - yet ARBs may be less likely to cause medication side effects, according to an analysis of real-world data published today in Hypertension, an American Heart Association journal.

26 Jul 2021

University of Liverpool signs option agreement with BARD1 for type 3C diabetes test

The University of Liverpool has signed a two year option agreement with the Australian diagnostics company, BARD1 Life Sciences Ltd (ASX: BD1), for a type 3c diabetes (T3cDM) blood test. The test uses patented technology developed by researchers in the University of Liverpool's Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology.

7 Jul 2021

Combination of interferon-α and nafamostat inhibits SARS-CoV-2 in vivo

A new study, released as a preprint on bioRxiv* server, shows that a combination of the biological interferon-α and the small molecule nafamostat are effective against SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro, as well as in vivo.

18 Jun 2021

Weight loss drug Wegovy approved by FDA

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Wegovy (semaglutide) injection (2.4 mg once weekly) as a chronic weight management treatment in obese or overweight adults with a weight-related condition (such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, or high cholesterol), when used along with calorie restriction and physical activity. Wegovy, is a more potent version of Novo Nordisk's diabetes drug semaglutide.

4 Jun 2021

Investigational drug reduced triglycerides in patients with severe hypertriglyceridemia, acute pancreatitis

The investigational drug evinacumab reduced triglycerides in patients with severe hypertriglyceridemia (sHTG) and a history of hospitalizations for acute pancreatitis in a phase 2 global study led by Mount Sinai.

17 May 2021

Anti-androgen drugs may help disarm coronavirus spike protein, stop progression of COVID-19

Hormone drugs that reduce androgen levels may help disarm the coronavirus spike protein used to infect cells and stop the progression of severe COVID-19 disease, suggests a new preclinical study from researchers in the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania and published online in Cell Press's iScience.

22 Mar 2021

Pancreatitis drug blocks SARS-CoV-2 activators in the upper respiratory tract

Pancreatitis drug Camostat inhibits new SARS-CoV-2 activators identified in the upper respiratory tract. There are no therapeutics available that have been developed for COVID-19 treatment.

5 Mar 2021

Study: Repurposed arthritis drug did not improve outcomes of patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia

In a study published online February 25, 2021 in The New England Journal of Medicine, a repurposed drug used to treat arthritis did not significantly improve the outcomes of patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia.

1 Mar 2021

How does SARS-CoV-2 infect the pancreas?

To understand how SARS-CoV-2 infects the pancreas and investigate its effects, a team of researchers used the human iPSC (induced pluripotent stem cells)-derived pancreatic cultures and analyzed the post-infection cellular and molecular changes.

5 Feb 2021

Study shows how tissue damage promotes the earliest stages of pancreatic cancer

Like weeds sprouting from cracks in the pavement, cancer often forms in sites of tissue damage. That damage could be an infection, a physical wound, or some type of inflammation.

4 Feb 2021

New drug screening platform identifies inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2

Researchers in the UK and the United States have developed a stem-cell-based screening platform for identifying compounds that inhibit infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – the causative agent for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

25 Jan 2021

FDA authorizes first device to treat patients with walled-off pancreatic necrosis

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized marketing of the EndoRotor System to resect (cut out) and remove necrotic (dead) tissue for patients with walled-off pancreatic necrosis (WOPN), a potentially deadly condition which can occur several weeks after an episode of severe acute pancreatitis, often requiring tissue removal.

23 Dec 2020

Study indicates the relationship between SARS-CoV-2 viral infection and diabetes

It has recently been described that infection by some enteroviruses - a genus of viruses that commonly cause diseases of varying severity - could potentially trigger diabetes, although its direct effect 'in vivo' as well as its mechanism of action at the molecular level were unknown.

21 Oct 2020

Scientists uncover important disease-fighting role for cells in the liver

Scientists at Scripps Research have uncovered an important disease-fighting role for cells called hepatocytes, which constitute most of the liver. The discovery could potentially be harnessed to develop new medicines for viral illnesses.

19 Oct 2020

Researchers develop research model to understand the impact of coronavirus on lungs

Scientists at Boston University's National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) and the Center for Regenerative Medicine (CReM) joined forces to develop the most relevant research model possible for understanding how the coronavirus virus impacts the lungs, by engineering living, "breathing" human lung cells from stem cells for the task.

30 Sep 2020

Post-mortem study of dead COVID-19 patients finds lung damage and blood clots

A new post-mortem study of patients who have died from COVID-19 found severe damage to the lungs and signs of blood clotting in major organs.

20 Aug 2020