Pancreatic secretagogues that activate digestive enzyme secretion thro
ugh classic intracellular mediators such as Ca2+ also activate novel s
ignaling kinase cascades. The best defined of these is the MAP kinase
cascade, but cholecystokinin also activates jun kinase, p38 MAP kinase
, and S6 kinase. These novel pathways are likely involved with pancrea
tic growth and gene expression.