Clinical Usefulness of Serum Autotaxin for Early Prediction of Relapse in Male Patients with Type 1 Autoimmune Pancreatitis

Serum IgG4 level is a useful diagnostic marker for autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP), but it is difficult to use to predict relapse. We investigated whether serum autotaxin (ATX) level is predictive of AIP relapse after steroid therapy. Fifty-six patients with type 1 AIP were investigated. We measured serum ATX at the time of diagnosis. We selected 24 males for whom serum samples during steroid therapy had been obtained and measured serum ATX at...