Questioning Current Concepts in Acute Pancreatitis: Endotoxin Contamination of Porcine Pancreatic Elastase is Responsible for Experimental Pancreatitis-Associated Distant Organ Fa…

Aims: The systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) is responsible for pancreatitis-associated mortality. Recent in vitro and in vivo studies have suggested that pancreatic elastase is one missing link between the localized inflammatory process in the pancreas and distant organ dysfunction and failure. It has been shown that pancreatic elastase activates transcription factors including NF-κB, induces TNF secretion in myeloid cells via toll-like receptors and causes a SIRS-like response in animal models. Methods: RAW264.7- and bone marrow derived macrophages (BMDM) were incubated with different pancreatic el…