TCPTP flo ed allele and for the presence of Cre was performed by polymerase chain re action, using DNA e tracted from tails as previ ously described. Acute pancreatitis was induced in 6 week old control and panc TCPTP KO mice. Mice were fasted overnight then injected intraperiotoneally 12 consecutive times, at 1 h intervals, with cerulein. DMSO was administered to the control group of mice as a vehicle control for cerulein adminis tration. All animals were sacrificed 2 h after the last in jection and blood was collected to determine serum amylase and lipase using ELISA kits. Circulating serum cytokines levels were measured using a Multiple kit from Meso Scale Discovery according to the manufac turers protocol. Pancreata were Batimastat rapidly removed then portions were allocated for histology, RNA analysis and biochemistry.

All mouse studies were conducted accord ing to federal guidelines and approved by the Institu tional Animal Care and Use Committee at University of California Davis. Male Wistar rats were placed under deep anaesthesia with isoflurane before being treated with a solution of 3. 5% sodium taurocholate in 0. 9% sodium chloride. Acute pancreatitis was induced by a retrograde infusion of the solution before described. At 1 h, and 6 h after the induction of acute pancreatitis, rats were anaesthe tized again and the pancreata were harvested and imme diately snap frozen in liquid nitrogen. Wistar rats were used in accordance with protocols approved by the Eth ical Committee for Animal E perimentation and Well being of the University of Valencia.

Biochemical analyses Pancreata were lysed using radio immunoprecipitation assay buffer. Lysates were clarified by centrifugation at 13,000 rpm for 10 min, and protein concentrations were determined using a bicinchoninic acid protein assay kit. Proteins were resolved by SDS PAGE and transferred to PVDF membranes. Immunoblotting of ly sates was performed with antibodies for PTP1B, TCPTP, SHP1, pPERK, PERK, peIF2, pSTAT3, STAT3, eIF2, cleaved Caspases 8, 9 and 3, Tubulin, pp38, p38, pJNK, JNK, p IKK B, IKK B, pI��B, I��B, pNF ��Bp65, NF ��Bp65, NF ��Bp50. After incubation with appropriate secondary antibodies, proteins were visualized using enhanced chemiluminescence. Pi el intensities of immunoreactive bands were quantified using ImageQuant 5. 0 software. Total RNA was e tracted from pancreata using TRIzol reagent.

cDNA was generated using high capacity cDNA Archive Kit. TCPTP, PTP1B, SHP1, IL1 B, IL 6 and TNF were assessed by SYBR Green quantita tive real time PCR using the CT method with appropriate primers and normal ized to TATA Bo binding protein. Background Dendritic cells are able to efficiently capture anti gens at their immature stage, process them and initiate immune responses upon interaction with lymphocytes. The specialized functions of mature DCs are essential to start T cell mediated immunity since they can prime na ve T cells. As DCs take up and process Ags and in response to various stimuli the