A study of Adenosine Deaminase and Gamma Glutamyl Transpeptidase in Acute Pancreatitis

Background: Acute pancreatitis is an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Alcohol and gallstone disease remain the commonest causes of acute pancreatitis but metabolic abnormalities, obesity and genetic susceptibility are thought to be increasingly important etiological factors. Serum enzymes amylases and lipase are used as conventional biomarkers of acute pancreatitis. Objectives: To assay serum enzymes amylase, lipase, adenosine deaminase (ADA) and gamma glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) in acute pancreatitis of alcoholic and non-alcoholic etiology. The present study also aimed to find the correlation among the enzymes. Materials and methods: The study subjects were categorized as non-alcoholic acute pancreatitis (n=30), alcoholic acute pancreatitis (n=30) and healthy controls (n=30). Levels of amylase, lipase, adenosine deaminase and gamma glutamyl transpeptidase were estimated in serum samples by standard spectrophotometric methods. Results: The levels of amylase, lipase, ADA and GGT were significantly higher in acute pancreatitis patients than controls. With respect to amylase and lipase, more pronounced increase was seen in non-alcoholic than the alcoholic acute pancreatitis patients. Increase in GGT was more in alcoholic acute pancreatitis while increase in ADA was comparable in acute pancreatitis of alcoholic and non-alcoholic etiologies. Serum amylase showed significant positive correlation with lipase, GGT and ADA in alcoholic acute pancreatitis and with lipase in non-alcoholic acute pancreatitis. Conclusion: Serum levels of enzymes amylase, lipase, ADA and GGT served sensitive markers of acute pancreatitis. Future studies employing larger sample size and differentiating various etiologies of acute pancreatitis, findings correlation among enzyme biomarkers are required.