Plasma concentrations of high mobility group box protein 1 (HMGB1) and circulating DNA in patients with acute pancreatitis

Aims: Severe acute pancreatitis is characterized by inflammation but is also associated with necrotic pathways. HMGB1 recently identified as a late-acting proinflammatory cytokine, is secreted actively by living inflammatory cells, and released passively from necrotic or damaged cells. HMGB1 may therefore be related to inflammation and necrosis in acute pancreatitis. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the level of HMGB1 is increased in the plasma in patients with acute pancreatitis. We further investigated whether the genomic DNA in plasma as a marker of cell death correlates with the disease severity…