title: Tight junctions in human pancreatic duct epithelial cells.
abstract: Tight junctions of the pancreatic duct are essential regulators of physiologic secretion of the pancreas and disruption of the pancreatic ductal barrier is known to contribute to the pathogenesis of pancreatitis and progression of pancreatic cancer. Various inflammatory mediators and carcinogens can trigger tight junction disassembly and disruption of the pancreatic barrier, however signaling events that mediates such barrier dysfunctions remain poorly understood. This review focuses on structure and regulation of tight junctions in normal pancreatic epithelial cells and mechanisms of junctional disruption during pancreatic inflammation and cancer. We will pay special attention to a novel model of human telomerase reverse transcriptase-transfected human pancreatic ductal epithelial cells and will describe the roles of major signaling molecules such as protein kinase C and c-Jun N-terminal kinase in formation and disassembly of the pancreatic ductal barrier.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology; Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine; Sapporo, Japan ; Department of Cell Science; Research Institute of Frontier Medicine; Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine; Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kojima
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery; Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine; Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery; Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine; Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Tatsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery; Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine; Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kyuno
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology; Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine; Sapporo, Japan ; Department of Surgery; Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine; Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Tsuyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kono
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology; Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine; Sapporo, Japan ; Department of Cell Science; Research Institute of Frontier Medicine; Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine; Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Takumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Konno
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology; Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine; Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Norimasa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sawada
keywords: JNK; PKC; normal human pancreatic duct epithelial cells; pancreatic cancer; tight junctions