Role of noncoding RNAs in chronic pancreatitis

Abstract

Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is a progressive inflammatory disease of pancreas, resulting in irreversible damage of exocrine and endocrine function of the organ. Tissue fibrosis is a characteristic feature of CP, where the pancreatic stellate cells have been thought to play a very crucial role. Patients with chronic pancreatitis have also been reported to be more susceptible to pancreatic cancer as compared to any healthy individual. Considering the public health importance of the disease, efforts are underway to comprehend the alterations in gene expression pattern during the development and progression of the disease. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) do not code for any proteins, but they are the key players in modulating the expression of large number of protein coding genes, consequently maintaining their normal function as well as adversely affecting the gene expression leading to disease pathophysiology. In recent years, studies on ncRNAs have gained much importance with the discovery of more and more types of ncRNAs and their involvement in almost every disease. Same is true for chronic pancreatitis as well, and the ncRNAs have been implicated to have important regulatory role in the biology of this disease. Furthermore, they have also been shown to have the ability to be used as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers of this disease. This review highlights the major findings in the field of ncRNAs (especially microRNAs and long noncoding RNAs) with respect to chronic pancreatitis in humans.