In an collaborative effort, groups from the institute of biochemistry and the university medicine have unraveled a potential key mechanism in the onset of acute pancreatitis, now published in Nature Communications!
Uwe Bornscheuer: We report on our studies about proteases involved in acute pancreatitis. We have identified that cystatin C (CST3) acts as an endogenous inhibitor of two other key proteases (CTSB and CTSL) and identified that CST3 is a critical regulator of activity for both proteases during acute pancreatitis. Furthermore, we found that dimerised CST3 enhances the CTSB activity and shifts from an inhibitor to an activator of CTSB. Special thanks go to the entire team for the great collaboration within the DFG-funded research training group RTG-PRO.