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Updated: Jul 6, 2026
A Mouse Model for Chronic Pancreatitis via Bile Duct TNBS Infusion
Published on: February 28, 2021
Active thymopoiesis in idiopathic chronic pancreatitis
Background/Aims:
Cellular immunity has a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of chronic pancreatitis (CP), resulting in pancreas infiltration by T-cells. Studies on systemic immunity are few and contradictory. One study reported a decrease of naive CD45RA+ cells. The presence of naive T cells, detected as recent thymic emigrants (RTEs), is evaluated with a new molecular technique by using real-time PCR to detect the T-cell receptor excision circles (TREC). To elucidate the role of naive T-cells in the pathogenesis of CP, we investigated the percentage of sj-TREC in CP patients.
Patients:
Thirty CP patients were studied and compared to 30 sex- and age-matched healthy volunteers.
Methods:
Genomic DNA was isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of each patient. RTEs were evaluated by measuring sj-TREC by real-time PCR.
Results:
The mean percentage of sj-TREC+ cells present in CP was not significantly different from that of control group (0.02319% vs 0.02338%, respectively).
Conclusion:
Our data show that naive TREC+ cells are normally represented in CP. The presence of active thymopoiesis may be the underlying mechanism resulting in continuous production of T-cells, responsible of maintaining the inflammatory process.
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