Abstract
Gene therapies and oligonucleotide decoy (NFκB DON) therapy are recently tried, experimentally and clinically, in critical diseases without particular therapies. Acute severe pancreatitis, frequently treated in emergency wards and intensive care units, is one of these disorders with poor prognosis. We examined, as a preliminary study, if a gene therapy is effective in a cerulein-induced pancreatitis model in rats. In eleven male Sprague-Dawley rats, weighning 200 to 240g, pancreatitis was induced by subcutaneous injection of cerulein after pretreatment by NFκB DON (n=5), NFκB non-sense (NFκB NON, n=3), or saline (Control, n=3). After two hours, serum amylase and lipase levels were measured as severity indicators of pancreatitis. Serum amylase and lipase levels of NFκB DON group were significantly lower than NFκB NON and saline control group. Pretreatment of NFκB DON, which regulates genes by combining with NFκB in m-RNA level, partially suppressed acute pancreatitis in a rat model. This result suggests that the agent may be a new treatment for acute pancreatitis. Its effectiveness and its side effects in posttreatment should be further studied.
