Previous studies showed that upregulation of HO-1 or treatment with its downstream effectors and heme degradation products, biliverdin and CO, have protective effects in different rodent models of acute pancreatitis induced by taurocholate, cerulein, or choline-deficient, ethionine-supplemented diet [22,23,24,25,26,27]. The gene discussed is HMOX1; the disease is acute pancreatitis.