ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the role of CC chemokine ligand 20 (CCL20) and CC chemokine receptor 6 (CCR6) in the pathogenesis of acute necrotizing pancreatitis (ANP). Methods 48 SD rats were randomly divided into two groups: control group and ANP group. The ANP model was induced by retrograde infusion of 4 % sodium taurocholate into the biliary and pancreatic duct in SD rats. The same amount of saline was injected in the control group. The rats were sacrificed at 1, 3, 6, 12 h, the serum amylase levels and the pathological score of the pancreas were measured. The expressions of CCL20 and CCR6 mRNA and protein in pancreas were detected by immunohistochemistry and semi-quantitative RT-PCR,respectively. Results The levels of serum amylase and the histological score of ANP group were significantly higher than those of control group (P ＜ 0.01 ). The expression of pancreatic CCL20 mRNA and protein was increased in a time-dependant manner ( P ＜ 0.05 ). The expression of pancreatic CCR6 mRNA at 6h was significantly higher than that of control group (0.88 ± 0.05 vs 0. 23 ± 0.09, P ＜ 0.01 ). The expression of pancreatic CCR6 mRNA at 12h was decreased when compared with that of 6h group, but it was still higher than that of control group (0.37 ± 0. 10 vs 0. 15 ± 0.07, P ＜ 0.05 ), the change of CCR6 protein was consistent with that of CCR6 mRNA. Conclusions CCL20 and CCR6 may play an important role in the pathogenesis of ANP.