Smoking—A Trigger for Chronic Inflammation and Cancer... : Official journal of the American College of Gastroenterology | ACG (original) (raw)

ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTION: PATHOLOGY: EDITORIAL

Smoking—A Trigger for Chronic Inflammation and Cancer Development in the Pancreas

Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectious Diseases, Otto-von Guericke-University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany

Reprint requests and correspondence: Peter Halfertheiner, Otto-von Guericke University, Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infections Diseases, Leipziger Str. 44, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany.

Received September 9, 2005; accepted September 14, 2005.

Abstract

Tobacco smoke, with its complexity of constituents, damages the pancreatic organ in multiple ways. Smoke not only affects pancreatic secretion patterns via its nicotine content but induces inflammatory reactions and exerts carcinogenic effects by several other constituents. Smoke enhances ethanol-induced pancreatic injury and accelerates the development and progression of chronic pancreatitis independent of etiology. Through the process of inflammation, smoking contributes to pancreatic carcinogenesis. The experiment of Wittel and colleagues published in this issue of the American Journal of Gastroenterology sheds further light on this topic by reporting in great detail two different kinds of pancreatic damage in rats exposed to high doses of smoke.