PANCREAS AND BILIARY TRACT Autoantibodies Against the Exocrine Pancreas in Autoimmune Pancreatitis: Gene and Protein Expression Profi ling and Immunoassays Identify Pancreatic Enzymes as a Major Target of the Infl ammatory Process

J.-Matthias L o hr , MD 1 , 2 , 3 , 19 , Ralf Faissner , PhD 1 , 19 , Dirk Koczan , PhD 4 , 19 , Peter Bewerunge , PhD 5 , 19 , Claudio Bassi , MD 6, Benedikt Brors , PhD 5, Roland 6Eils , PhD 5, Luca Frulloni , MD , Anette Funk , BS 1 , 2, Walter Halangk , MD 7, Ralf Jesnowski , PhD 1,2 , Lars Kaderali , PhD 5, J o rg Kleeff , MD 8, Burkhard 9Kr u ger , PhD 10, Markus M. Lerch , MD , Ralf L o sel , PhD 11 , Mauro Magnani , PhD 12 , Michael Neumaier , MD 13 , Stephanie Nittka , MD 13, Mikl o s Sahin-T o th , PhD 14 , Julian S a nger , MD 1, Sonja Serafi ni , PhD 12 , Martina Schn o lzer , PhD 15 , Hermann-Josef Thierse , MD 16 , Silke Wandschneider , PhD 1 , 15 , Giuseppe Zamboni , MD 17 and G u nter Kl o ppel , MD 18 OBJECTIVES: Autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) is thought to be an immune-mediated infl ammatory process, directed against the epithelial components of the pancreas. The objective was to identify novel markers of disease and to unravel the pathogenesis of AIP. METHODS: