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Chronic pancreatitis is often secondary to alcohol abuse, but pancreatitis with no other aetiology is frequently associated with variants in genes encoding proteins related to zymogen granule activation. Our goal was to identify genomic variants in a patient by analyzing an extended panel of genes associated with the intra-pancreatic activation of the trypsin pathway. A 23-year-old woman was addressed at our institution because of chronic pancreatitis of unknown aetiology presenting recurrent episodes since she was the age of four. Next Generation Sequencing was performed to analyze a panel of nine genes associated with pancreatitis (CaSR, CFTR, CPA1, CTRC, CTSB, KRT8, PRSS1, PRSS2, and SPINK1). Three missense variants were found: p.Leu997Phe, maternally inherited, in the CFTR gene; p.Ile73Phe, paternally inherited, in the SPINK1 gene; and p.Phe790Ser, a de novo variant, in the CaSR gene. They were classified, respectively as probably benign, a Variant of Uncertain Significance, and the last one, which has never been described in the literature, as likely being pathogenic following American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics standard guidelines. Extensive intra-pancreatic activation of trypsin pathway gene sequencing detected rare variants that were not found with other gene screening and showed that variants in different genes may interact in contributing to the onset of the pancreatitis phenotype.

Abstract Background Recurrent (RP) and chronic pancreatitis (CP) may complicate Cystic Fibrosis (CF). It is still unknown if mutations in genes involved in the intrapancreatic activation of trypsin (IPAT) or in the pancreatic secretion pathway (PSP) may enhance the risk for RP/CP in patients with CF. Methods We enrolled: 48 patients affected by CF complicated by RP/CP and, as controls 35 patients with CF without pancreatitis and 80 unrelated healthy subjects. We tested a panel of 8 genes involved in the IPAT, i.e. PRSS1, PRSS2, SPINK1, CTRC, CASR, CFTR, CTSB and KRT8 and 23 additional genes implicated in the PSP. Results We found 14/48 patients (29.2%) with mutations in genes involved in IPAT in the group of CF patients with RP/CP, while mutations in such genes were found in 2/35 (5.7%) patients with CF without pancreatitis and in 3/80 (3.8%) healthy subjects (p

Abstract Genetic features of chronic pancreatitis (CP) have been investigated extensively, mainly by testing genes associated to the trypsinogen activation pathway. However, different molecular pathways involving other genes may be implicated in CP pathogenesis. A total of 80 patients with idiopathic chronic pancreatitis (ICP) were investigated using a Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) approach with a panel of 70 genes related to six different pancreatic pathways: premature activation of trypsinogen, modifier genes of cystic fibrosis phenotype, pancreatic secretion and ion homeostasis, calcium signaling and zymogen granules (ZG) exocytosis, autophagy and autoimmune pancreatitis-related genes. We detected mutations in 34 out of 70 genes examined; of the 80 patients, 64 (80.0%) were positive for mutations in one or more genes and 16 (20.0%) had no mutations. Mutations in CFTR were detected in 32 of the 80 patients (40.0%) and 22 of them exhibited at least one mutation in genes of other pancreatic pathways. Of the remaining 48 patients, 13/80 (16.3%) had mutations in genes involved in premature activation of trypsinogen and 19/80 (23.8%) had mutations only in genes of the other pathways: 38 (59.3%) of the 64 patients positive for mutations showed variants in two or more genes. Our data, although to be extended with functional analysis of novel mutations, suggest a high rate of genetic heterogeneity in CP and that trans-heterozygosity may predispose to the ICP phenotype.