Geno-phenotype Specific Molecular Targets for Therapeutic Developments in Pancreatitis

Pancreatitis is characterized by processes of cell death, inflammation, immune dysfunction and fibrosis. The disease can be acute and self-limited or progress to chronic states. Because of the severity of the disease and its symptoms, pancreatitis is one of the most common causes for hospital admissions among gastrointestinal disorders. Mechanisms of pathogenesis of the different forms of pancreatitis are largely based on animal models. Relatively few clinical trials are performed and there are currently no standard of care therapies approved.

The goal of this Research Topic is to create a forum for discussion of potential molecular targets and approaches to increase our understanding of the different clinical disorders of pancreatitis with their specific geno-phenotypes and stage of disease for precision application of therapies. Our objective is to recruit original research articles, narrative and systematic reviews, and meta-analyses that meet our stated goal. As such, we are interested in mechanism based research with models focused to specific clinical situations and real world data analysis including genetics, metabolomics, lipidomics, radiomics and other biomarkers as well as lifestyle factors using artificial intelligence approaches to characterize specific disease subtypes.

This collection is interested in in the following research areas:

1. Experimental and Translational models
• Human and animal models of pancreatitis;
• Ex vivo human models of pancreatitis;
• Relevance of traditional animal pancreatitis;
• Algorithms for establishing human relevance for preclinical work in pancreatitis.

2. Mechanisms and Pathophysiology
• Mechanisms of pediatric pancreatitis;
• Genetics of pancreatitis;
• Immunology of pancreatitis;
• Trafficking in pancreatitis;
• Pancreatic regeneration;
• The microbiome-pancreas axis in pancreatitis;
• Lipids and cholesterol in pancreatitis;
• Mechanism of progression from acute to chronic pancreatitis;
• Mechanisms of pancreatic cancer progression from pancreatitis;
• Measuring pancreatic ductal pressures and its relevance to pancreatitis.

3. Disease Intersections
• Cystic fibrosis at the crossroads of pancreatitis treatment;
• Diabetes and pancreatitis crosstalk.

4. Therapeutics
• Nutrients in pancreatitis;
• Development of targeted therapeutics for pancreatitis;
• Development of therapeutics for diabetes related to pancreatitis.

5. Data, Technology, and Biomarkers
• Leveraging harmonized open-source datasets in pancreatitis research;
• AI uses in pancreatitis research;
• Radiomics and pancreatitis;
• Biomarkers in pancreatitis;
• Real world data usage in pancreatitis;
• Apps in pancreatitis.

Guest Editor Dr. Sohail Husain declares the following competing interests: he serves as a consultant for Triveni and has received a research grant from Servier. Dr. Stephen Pandol declares no competing interests with regards to the Research Topic subject.