Pancreatitis Could Be A Sign Of Stress Hormone Deficiency, Says New Study

Every year, approximately 220,000 Americans get afflicted with acute pancreatitis and about 80,000 people get diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis. New research points out that the painful condition could be due to a lack of certain hormones.

The researchers from the UT Southwestern Medical Center have found that humans and mice suffering from pancreatitis are deficient in a certain stress hormone named FGF21. Typically this stress hormone is secreted abundantly in the pancreas compared to any other organ in the body. The researchers also found that reversing this hormone deficiency in mouse models was possible via hormone replacement therapy which even helped prevent it.

The research which was published in Science Translational Medicine has reported a successful second treatment strategy. The drug PERK inhibitor was found to target a different step in the stress response and the cellular pathway which affects the amount of a certain fibroblast growth factor present in the pancreas.

"Given that several FGF21 drug candidates are or soon will be in clinical trials for conditions related to metabolic disease, it may be possible to test fibroblast growth factor 21 for treating human pancreatitis in the near future," ScienceDaily quoted the study’s lead investigator David Mangelsdorf, chair of pharmacology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). He also said that he isn’t aware of any current investigations pertaining to PERK inhibitors for clinical use.

Pancreatitis is a debilitating and fatal inflammation of the pancreas which can either be acute or chronic. The condition accounts for more than 275,000 hospitalizations in the country every year and its incidence have constantly been on the rise.

Although the exact cause of pancreatitis remains unclear, several factors including gallstones, long-term alcohol abuse, and some genetic health conditions could lead to pancreatitis, says the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Pancreatitis can also happen during complications related to certain endoscopic procedures where a camera alongside a contrast dye and x-rays are used to view the gall bladder, bile duct, and pancreatic ducts.

Acute pancreatitis is generally treatable and most individuals recover within a few days of hospitalization after receiving IV fluids and pain relief medications.