Inflammation and Cancer: Chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer

Abstract

Pancreatic inflammation appears to increase the risk of pancreatic cancer. This observation is striking in the hereditary pancreatitis kindreds but also occurs in alcoholic, idiopathic, and tropical chronic pancreatitis and cystic fibrosis. However, the mutations associated with hereditary pancreatitis or cystic fibrosis are not found in sporadic pancreatic adenocarcinomas, suggesting that the effects are indirect by causing recurrent pancreatitis and chronic inflammation. The process of mutation accumulation and clonal expansion that is required for the development of invasive pancreatic adenocarcinoma must therefore be accelerated in chronic pancreatitis to account for the high incidence of pancreatic cancer in these patients.