CFTR and autoimmune pancreatitis: In previous studies, while elucidating the molecular mechanisms of aberrant HCO3- transport in pancreatic ducts in chronic pancreatitis, we have found that the Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) chloride channel, which plays a central role in HCO3- transport in pancreatic ducts, is largely mislocalized in the cytoplasm of pancreatic duct cells in autoimmune pancreatitis (Ko et al., 2010).