Eileen T. So

2nd Year Medical Student

Department: School of Medicine

Graduate Program: TBD

Advisor: Dr. Emily Chen (rotating)

Abstract (rotation):

Title:  Cerulein-induced pancreatitis in ß1-knockout mice

Preceptor: Dr. Howard Crawford, Department of Pharmacological Sciences, SBU

The pancreas is an endocrine and exocrine gland organ which secretes digestive enzymes into the body’s ductal system and hormones directly into the bloodstream. Our research is mainly concerned with the molecular basis of pancreatitis, which is an inflammation of the pancreas caused by improper direction of pancreatic enzymes. Using a transgenic mouse model (ß1-integrin flox/flox), one particular aspect of pancreas secretion studied was the role of cell-adhesion molecule ß1-integrin in maintaining the structural integrity and orientation of acinar cells, which are the exocrine cells in the pancreas responsible for synthesizing digestive enzymes. Use of the hormone secretatogue, cerulein, was employed to induce pancreatic secretion to the point of pancreatitis in both wild and ß1-integrin knockout mice to study the viability, orientation, and secretion of the acinar cells. Furthermore, the molecular basis and clinical behavior of pancreatitis, while different in clinical outcome, shares common features with pancreatic cancer. Thus, the conclusions drawn from studies in pancreatitis could have important relevancy in pancreatic cancer, the 4th leading cause of death in the United States.