The early pathophysiology of the acute pancreatitis has not been well understood, but some clinical studies have shown that after an initial acinar cell injury, pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin (IL) 1, IL-6, IL-8 and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF- α) are increased in the serum of patients with acute pancreatitis (Pooran et al., 2003 ▶) while the degree of cytokine elevation correlates with disease severity (Raraty et al., 2004 ▶). The gene discussed is TNF; the disease is acute pancreatitis.