Immune-manipulation of the inflammatory response in acute pancreatitis. What can be expected?

Severe acute pancreatitis still has a high mortality rate and multiple organ failure is considered to be a severe complication of the disease. Activated polymorphonuclear leukocytes have an important role in the development of multiple organ failure which may result from acute pancreatitis and they are an important pathogenetic factor in the severity of this disease. Therefore, a logical therapeutic approach is to limit the organ damage by selective suppression of inflammatory mediators involved in the systemic inflammatory response syndrome and protect against systemic complication. In this paper, we review the recent literature data on the possible manipulation of the immune response in acute pancreatitis.