Year: 2007
Type: review
Abstract: Pancreatic stellate cells (PaSCs) are myofibroblast-like cells found in the areas of the pancreas that have exocrine function. PaSCs are regulated by autocrine and paracrine stimuli and share many features with their hepatic counterparts, studies of which have helped further our understanding of PaSC biology. Activation of PaSCs induces them to proliferate, to migrate to sites of tissue damage, to contract and possibly phagocytose, and to synthesize ECM components to promote tissue repair. Sustained activation of PaSCs has an increasingly appreciated role in the fibrosis that is associated with chronic pancreatitis and with pancreatic cancer. Therefore, understanding the biology of PaSCs offers potential therapeutic targets for the treatment and prevention of these diseases.
DOI: 10.1172/jci30082
Language: English
Subfield: Surgery
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Awards: Genetic and molecular effects on hepatocyte nucleocytoplasm protein aggregation, Plasminogen System and Alcoholic Pancreatitis, Genetic and molecular effects on hepatocyte nucleocytoplasm protein aggregation, Keratin Biology and Disease Aspects in Simple Epithelia, Molecular Pathogenesis of Digestive Diseases, G685740053, Feasibility of Hemin-Based Therapy in Experimental Acute Pancreatitis, G9000254058, Southern California Research Center for ALPD and Cirrhosis
OpenAlex ID: W1978148663