Overview

• ER-phagy defects in murine pancreatic epithelial cells lead to buildup of misfolded protein aggregates resembling those in neurodegenerative diseases
• Oncogenic KRAS suppresses ER-phagy function, exacerbating proteostasis failure and setting the stage for malignant transformation
• Ectopic expression of insoluble REG3B in mice reproduces an injury-like acinar state and acinar-to-ductal metaplasia, a key early step toward pancreatic cancer
• Parallel protein clumps found in human pancreatic tissue samples indicate a conserved process across species in cancer initiation
• Researchers will investigate whether autophagy defects and aggregates can be predicted or reversed early and how factors such as age, sex and diet influence their onset