Abstract
Pancreatic disorders cause a broad spectrum of clinical diseases, mainly including acute and chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer, and are associated with high global rates of morbidity and mortality. Unfortunately, the pathogenesis of pancreatic disease remains obscure, and there is a lack of specific treatments. T lymphocytes (T cells) play a vital role in the adaptive immune systems of multicellular organisms. During pancreatic disease development, local imbalances in T-cell subsets in inflammatory and tumor environments and the circulation have been observed. Furthermore, agents targeting T cells have been shown to reverse the natural course of pancreatic diseases. In this review, we have discussed the clinical relevance of T-cell alterations as a potential outcome predictor and the underlying mechanisms, as well as the present status of immunotherapy targeting T cells in pancreatitis and neoplasms. The breakthrough findings summarized in this review have important implications for innovative drug development and the prospective use of immunotherapy for pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer.
Highlights
Pancreatic disease is the most common gastrointestinal disease, and is defined as ongoing or chronic inflammation, immune dysfunction, and an uncontrollable inflammatory malignant transformation of the pancreas [1, 2]
Transplanted human mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) markedly blocked the production of proinflammatory cytokines and suppressed inflammatory damage to the pancreatic tissue in a rodent model of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) [149, 150], which was largely attributed to a decreased Tcell infiltration and an enhanced regulatory T (Treg) recruitment [165]
Animal trials have revealed the therapeutic potential of MSCs and their safety and efficacy, and follow-up studies to investigate their precise mechanism and human clinical trials to evaluate their therapeutic efficacy in Acute pancreatitis (AP) and chronic pancreatitis (CP) are warranted [154]
Summary
Pancreatic disorders cause a broad spectrum of clinical diseases, mainly including acute and chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer, and are associated with high global rates of morbidity and mortality. The pathogenesis of pancreatic disease remains obscure, and there is a lack of specific treatments. Local imbalances in T-cell subsets in inflammatory and tumor environments and the circulation have been observed. Agents targeting T cells have been shown to reverse the natural course of pancreatic diseases. We have discussed the clinical relevance of T-cell alterations as a potential outcome predictor and the underlying mechanisms, as well as the present status of immunotherapy targeting T cells in pancreatitis and neoplasms. The breakthrough findings summarized in this review have important implications for innovative drug development and the prospective use of immunotherapy for pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer
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