Genetics of drug-induced pancreatitis

Pancreatitis is when your pancreas becomes swollen and tender. Your pancreas is a long, flat gland found behind the stomach. It makes hormones that help control how your body breaks down sugar. It also makes proteins that help you digest food. These proteins travel to the small intestine where they start to work. Pancreatitis occurs when the digestive proteins start to work before they leave the pancreas. It can be very serious. Pancreatitis can either be acute or chronic. Chronic means it occurs over time and lasts many years. Common causes are heavy alcohol use, cystic fibrosis, smoking and high blood levels of calcium or fats. Acute means that it comes on fast and doesn’t last long. The most common cause is gallstones. Certain prescription drugs can also cause acute pancreatitis. The term for this is drug-induced acute pancreatitis, or DIAP. At this time, we do not know what causes it. Scientists think that genetics might play a role in DIAP. Researchers at Vanderbilt will use BioVU to look for people with DIAP. Then they will check for certain gene changes. The goal is to find a link between the gene changes and DIAP. The results of this work could help us know who will get DIAP. Doctors can test for gene changes before you get a drug. If you have gene changes linked to DIAP, you might get a different drug. If another drug isn’t an option, the results could help us better treat the DIAP.