Thesis supervisor: András Szabó
Location of studies (in Hungarian): University of Debrecen, Faculty of Medicine Abbreviation of location of studies: DEÁOK
Description of the research topic:
Our work focuses on the investigation of human pancreatic digestive enzymes, mostly proteases, in healthy and pathological conditions. These proteases are produced by pancreatic acinar cells as inactive precursors, secreted into the gut where they are activated to fulfill their digestive functions. The activation of these proteases is tightly regulated, as premature activation of these enzymes may lead to the auto-digestion of the pancreas, and the development of an inflammatory disease; chronic pancreatitis. One of our aims is to study the protective mechanisms of the pancreas which inhibit early protease activation. Mutations in the protease coding genes are frequently associated with chronic pancreatitis. Another goal of our work group is the characterization of mutant proteases with biochemical and molecular methods, to understand the pathomechanisms by which mutations may lead to the development of chronic pancreatitis.
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