The Pathogenesis of Pancreatitis and the Role of Autophagy

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear Authors, I read with interest your paper "Pathogenesis of pancreatitis and the role of autophagy".

The paper is well written focusing on he pathogenesis of acute and chronic pancreatitis, with a deep vision of  complex mechanism that induce and perpetuate pancreatitis. 

I think the paper may be of interest to the readers

best

Author Response

We appreciate the comments on our paper.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Very interesting and comprehensive review of the current literature on the role of autophagy in the pathogenesis of pancreatitis. It is an important topic since pancreatitis is a clinical entity with a significant and heavy burden in healthcare. This article is well written and I have no significant methodological concerns.

Some minor suggestions in order to improve the overall quality of the manuscript:

1) The abstract needs to better clarify what the aim of the review is, and what the potential clinical (practical) as well as scientific significance of this review is. Is it improtant for the development of new treatment strategies targeting autophagy? 

2) All of the figures (Fig. 1, Fig. 2, Fig. 3) appear to be very plain and quite complex for readers, since there is no colour or schematic arrows to guide them through the order of the differenct inflammatory pathways etc. Please use colour, schematic arrows, shapes etc. so as to make them less complex and more eye-catching.

3) A table that portrays the primary and secondary outcomes of original studies regarding the role of autophagy in pancreatitis, would elevate the quality of the manuscript. 

4) A "Discussion and Future Perspectives Section", regarding the potential clinical usefulness of harnessing the different pathways of autophagy in order to develop future treatment strategies to manage pancreatitis would elevate the quality of the manuscript. It could also discuss the results of relevant clinical trials on the topic or even any ongoing RCTs on the topic, and also infrom the readers about potential gaps in our current knowledge that need to be adressed from RCTs in the near future.

Minor English language editing is required, some grammatic, typos and syntax errors do exist. 

Author Response

We thank the reviewers for their constructive points. All changes have been highlighted in yellow.

Reviewer 2

1)The abstract needs to better clarify what the aim of the review is, and what the potential clinical (practical) as well as scientific significance of this review is. Is it important for the development of new treatment strategies targeting autophagy? 

Clarifications were made and the significance and therapeutic implications were noted.

2) All of the figures (Fig. 1, Fig. 2, Fig. 3) appear to be very plain and quite complex for readers, since there is no color or schematic arrows to guide them through the order of the different inflammatory pathways etc. Please use color, schematic arrows, shapes etc. so as to make them less complex and more eye-catching.

Colors were added to all figures indicating the important points of the figures to guide readers.

3) A table that portrays the primary and secondary outcomes of original studies regarding the role of autophagy in pancreatitis, would elevate the quality of the manuscript.

Table 1 has been added as suggested 

4) A "Discussion and Future Perspectives Section", regarding the potential clinical usefulness of harnessing the different pathways of autophagy in order to develop future treatment strategies to manage pancreatitis would elevate the quality of the manuscript. It could also discuss the results of relevant clinical trials on the topic or even any ongoing RCTs on the topic, and also inform the readers about potential gaps in our current knowledge that need to be addressed from RCTs in the near future.

Subsection 7 has added to address this comment.