with TGF beta 1 (TGF-β1) and other cytokines. pharmacological inhibition of COX-2 and inhibition of TGF-β1 signalling pathway decreases the expression of COX-2, α-SMA and collagen I, indicating that COX-2 may be a therapeutic target for pancreatic cancer and chronic pancreatitis. Strategies aimed at inducing PaSC transformation from an activated to a quiescent state and inducing PaSC apoptosis may also be used to treat pancreatic cancer and chronic pancreatitis. For example, the administration of vitamin A induces culture activated rat PaSCs to trans-differentiate to a quiescent state, preventing the progression of pancreatic cancer and pancreatitis. History While the discovery of hepatic stellate cells is attributed to Karl Wilhelm von Kupffer in 1876, who had termed them “stellate cells”, the original discovery is attributed to more than one research group. The first documented observations of PaSCs were recorded by Watari et al. in 1982. Watari observed the pancreas of vitamin A primed mice using fluorescence microscopy and electron microscopy. Cells displaying fading blue-green fluorescence typical of vitamin A in the periacinar region of pancreas was observed. Watari likened these cells to hepatic stellate cells. The publication of two seminal research papers in 1998 outlining the isolation of these cells provided an in vitro method by which researchers may characterise PaSCs in both health and pathology. See also Hepatic stellate cell Stellate cell References External links Endocrinology