Drug-Based Treatment for Acute Pancreatitis, Commonly Alcohol-Related

Scientists are working on the first drug-based treatment for acute pancreatitis, a disease that is often alcohol related and for which there is no common treatment.

Statistics show that in the United Kingdom each year, it's estimated that 20,000 people are admitted to the hospital with this problem and one in five of these cases are so severe that over 1,000 result in deaths annually. In the United States annually, it's noted that there are approximately 80,000 cases per year, 1,538 per week, 219 per day, and 9 per hour.

The study authors found that tests undertaken by scientists at Cardiff University using an existing calcium channel-blocking compound developed by GlaxoSmithKline helped to reduce the flow of calcium into isolated pancreatic cells that stopped the root cause of the disease.

"The aim of the research was to block excessive calcium entry caused by agents inducing pancreatitis and then test whether this would protect the pancreatic cells from self-digestion and death," Senior Author of the research and Director of Cardiff University's School of Biosciences, MRC Professor Ole Petersen FRS said, via a press release. "Our research shows that the calcium channel inhibiting compound offers unique and effective protection against inappropriate activation inside the cells of digestive enzymes, which would cannibalise the pancreas and the surrounding tissue.

"This breakthrough shows huge potential to radically change and improve the outcome for patients suffering from severe pancreatitis. The publication of these findings will open the way for further research involving animals and humans - and, if successful, we shall for the first time be able to treat this often fatal disease."

Yet the study authors note that further research will be needed in order to determine future treatments.

"While further research will be needed to show that the success seen here in cells can be replicated in animal and then human trials, this is clearly an interesting study which takes an innovative first step towards drug development for acute pancreatitis, an increasingly common condition for which new treatment options are sorely needed," Dr Joe McNamara, Population and Systems Medicine Board Chair at the Medical Research Council who funded the study said, via the release.

Acute pancreatitis is a sudden inflammation that occurs over a short period of time, and in the majority of cases, it's caused by gallstones or heavy alcohol use. Other causes can include medications, infections, trauma, metabolic disorders and surgery. In over 30 percent of people with the health problem, the cause is unknown.

Yet the severity of the problem may range from mild abdominal discomfort to a severe, life-threatening illness. Fortunately, the majority of people with the problem recover after receiving the appropriate treatment. 

More information regarding the study can be found via the PNAS journal.