Tuft Cell Formation Reflects Epithelial Plasticity in Pancreatic Injury: Implications for Modeling Human Pancreatitis.

ABSTRACT: Chronic pancreatitis, a known risk factor for the development of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA), is a serious, widespread medical condition characterized by inflammation, fibrosis, and acinar to ductal metaplasia (ADM). ADM is a cell type transdifferentiation event where pancreatic acinar cells become ductal-like under conditions of injury or oncogenic mutation. Here, we show that chronic pancreatitis and ADM in genetically wild type mice results in the formation of a significant population of chemosensory tuft cells. Transcriptomic analyses of pancreatitis tuft cells identify expression of inflammatory mediators, consistent with a role for tuft cells in injury progression and/or resolution. Though similar to tuft cell populations in other organs and disease systems, we identified

SUBMITTER: DelGiorno KE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7033634 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature