Phospholipase A₂in Acute Pancreatitis

Acute pancreatitis is an autodigestive disease, in which digestive enzymes produced by the pancreas destroy the gland. Opie and Meakins [29] proposed that it is trypsin that causes the tissue injury. However, it seems more probable that phospholipase A2 might be the enzyme responsible for autodigestion in acute pancreatitis [26]. Accordingly, increased catalytic activities of this enzyme [33] as well as above-normal concentrations of immunoreactive phospholipase A2 [27] have been detected in sera of patients suffering from acute pancreatitis.