Publications by authors named "Michail Doukas"

Liver transplantation (LT) is curative for end stage liver disease. Expanding LT indications with limited deceased donor grafts has created organ shortages. Living donor liver transplant (LDLT) increases available organs.

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The accumulation of cholesterol and other lipids leading to hepatic lipotoxicity drives the progression of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver (MASL) to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), the advanced progressive stage of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). For MASH diagnosis, liver biopsy remains the reference standard, despite its invasiveness and limitations. Thus, this study aimed to find blood-derived lipid markers for MASH.

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Background And Aims: Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) displays remarkable anatomical and histological heterogeneity. Besides diagnosis confirmation, histology currently does not have a major role in the management of CCA. We aimed to study the clinical relevance of histological heterogeneity of CCA and putative tissue biomarkers by creating a multicentric digitalized European CCA Histology Registry.

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Background: Lymph node (LN) involvement is a negative prognostic factor for patients with distal cholangiocarcinoma (dCCA). Therefore, preoperative assessment of the LN status could potentially aid therapy decision making. Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) is often used to obtain a tissue diagnosis of the primary tumor, but can also be used to sample suspicious LN.

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Introduction: The prevalence of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) may be as high as 38% in the adult population with potential serious complications, multiple comorbidities and a high socioeconomic burden. However, there is a general lack of awareness and knowledge about MASLD and its progressive stages (metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) and fibrosis). Therefore, MASLD is still far underdiagnosed.

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Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is associated with a poor 5-year survival mainly due to detection at late stages. Better non-invasive surveillance methods are needed to improve early detection and maximize survival. We performed a strict assessment of DNA methylation markers (DMMs) for HCC detection.

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Objective: This study assessed the association of histopathological features in the resection specimen of CD patients with (severe) endoscopic postoperative recurrence (ePOR) in a large prospective, multicenter cohort study.

Summary Background Data: The predictive value of histopathologic features of the intestinal resection specimen for the risk of Crohn's disease (CD) recurrence after ileocolic (re-)resection (ICR) remains a matter of debate.

Methods: CD patients (≥16 y) scheduled for ICR (n=293) were included.

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Background: A substantial proportion of individuals with oesophageal cancer have a pathological complete response after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy and oesophagectomy. We aimed to investigate whether active surveillance could be an alternative for individuals with a clinical complete response after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy.

Methods: We performed a multicentre, stepped-wedge, cluster-randomised, non-inferiority, phase 3 trial in 12 Dutch hospitals.

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Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most lethal cancers known to humans. However, not all patients fare equally poor survival, and a minority of patients even survives advanced disease for months or years. Thus, there is a clinical need to search corresponding prognostic biomarkers which forecast survival on an individual basis.

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Background: Postoperative pancreatic fistula is the main driver of morbidity and mortality after pancreatoduodenectomy. In high-risk patients, the rate of postoperative pancreatic fistula approaches 50%, whereas it is below 5% in patients with pancreatic cancer who receive neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety, feasibility, and efficacy of preoperative stereotactic body radiotherapy on the pancreatic neck transection margin in high-risk patients undergoing pancreatoduodenectomy to prevent postoperative pancreatic fistula.

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Background & Aims: The enteric nervous system (ENS), which is composed of neurons and glia, regulates intestinal motility. Hirschsprung disease (HSCR) results from defects in ENS formation; however, although neuronal aspects have been studied extensively, enteric glia remain disregarded. This study aimed to explore enteric glia diversity in health and disease.

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Article Synopsis
  • Metastatic behavior in liver-metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) varies significantly based on histopathological growth patterns (HGPs), influencing treatment outcomes, with desmoplastic HGP being linked to favorable and replacement HGP to unfavorable outcomes.
  • Understanding cellular and molecular factors of these growth patterns is crucial for improving cancer biology knowledge and designing effective clinical trials.
  • Analysis of tumor tissue reveals that HGPs are influenced by epigenetic factors rather than specific gene mutations, with distinct gene expression differences reflecting cancer biology themes, such as inflammation for desmoplastic and cell proliferation for replacement patterns.
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  • - Oesophageal cancer patients achieving a clinical complete response (CR) after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) may benefit from active surveillance; however, identifying true CRs is difficult due to a 40% regrowth rate in these patients.
  • - The study examined pre-treatment and post-treatment tissue samples to analyze the expression of several tumor markers (CEA, EpCAM, VEGF-α, EGFR, c-MET) through immunohistochemistry, aiming to find markers for potential near-infrared fluorescence imaging.
  • - Results showed high expression of EpCAM in adenocarcinomas and EGFR in squamous cell carcinomas, while neoadjuvant therapy did not alter the
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  • This study explores the significance of tumor budding (TB) in colorectal cancer, particularly focusing on intratumoral budding (ITB) in resection specimens and its feasibility in biopsy samples.* -
  • The research found that high-grade TB, whether intratumoral or peritumoral, is linked with worse outcomes such as advanced cancer stages and lower overall survival rates.* -
  • Results indicated that ITB is a strong predictor of overall survival and can help in improving risk assessment and predicting responses to neoadjuvant therapy in cancer patients, highlighting the need for TB evaluation in biopsies.*
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Background: Histopathological growth patterns are one of the strongest prognostic factors in patients with resected colorectal liver metastases. Development of an efficient, objective and ideally automated histopathological growth pattern scoring method can substantially help the implementation of histopathological growth pattern assessment in daily practice and research. This study aimed to develop and validate a deep-learning algorithm, namely neural image compression, to distinguish desmoplastic from non-desmoplastic histopathological growth patterns of colorectal liver metastases based on digital haematoxylin and eosin-stained slides.

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Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) presents challenges in detecting somatic mutations due to its complex cellular composition. This study investigated the utility of patient-derived organoids (PDOs) to overcome these obstacles and enhance somatic mutation identification. Surgically resected PDAC tumors and their paired PDOs from 21 patients were examined.

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Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) chronicity results from memory T helper cell (Tmem) reactivation. Identifying patient-specific immunotypes is crucial for tailored treatment. We conducted a comprehensive study integrating circulating immune proteins and circulating Tmem, with intestinal tissue histology and mRNA analysis, in therapy-naïve pediatric IBD (Crohn's disease, CD: n = 62; ulcerative colitis, UC: n = 20; age-matched controls n = 43), and after 10-12 weeks' induction therapy.

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Introduction: Postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF) occurs in 25% of patients undergoing a high-risk pancreatoduodenectomy (PD) and is a driving cause of major morbidity, mortality, prolonged hospital stay and increased costs after PD. There is a need for perioperative methods to decrease these risks. In recent studies, preoperative chemoradiotherapy in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) reduced the rate of POPF seemingly due to radiation-induced pancreatic fibrosis.

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Purpose: Immunotherapies have shown limited responses in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. Recently, we reported that dendritic cell (DC)-based immunotherapy induced T-cell responses against pancreatic cancer antigens. The primary objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of DC-based immunotherapy to prevent recurrence of disease.

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According to conventional views, colon cancer originates from stem cells. However, inflammation, a key risk factor for colon cancer, has been shown to suppress intestinal stemness. Here, we used Paneth cells as a model to assess the capacity of differentiated lineages to trigger tumorigenesis in the context of inflammation in mice.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the imaging characteristics in gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI that differentiate focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) from hepatocellular adenoma and carcinoma (HCA/HCC), particularly focusing on hyper- or isointensity observed in the hepatobiliary phase.
  • Researchers analyzed data from 124 patients with pathology-proven FNH or HCA/HCC, finding unique imaging traits such as specific patterns and fat content that help distinguish between these liver conditions.
  • The results suggest that if certain imaging characteristics indicative of HCA/HCC are present, further evaluation should be conducted to rule out B-catenin-activated HCA, especially when lesions show high levels of hyper- or isointensity.
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  • Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a treatment using light that helps kill cancer cells, and it's more effective when a special dye called Bremachlorin is present in the tumor tissue.
  • Scientists used special cameras to see how Bremachlorin spread in the body and found it worked best in the pancreatic tumors about 6 hours after it was given.
  • They also used another dye called IRDye®-800CW to see how well PDT caused the tumors to break down, proving that this method is helpful in treating cancer.
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  • Risk stratification for endoscopic post-operative recurrence (ePOR) in Crohn's disease is crucial for identifying patients who would benefit from preventive treatments and closer monitoring.
  • A comprehensive review of 47 studies highlighted key risk factors for ePOR, such as active smoking, male gender, and previous bowel surgeries, but many factors listed in current guidelines lacked consistent evidence.
  • The findings suggest a need for personalized treatment strategies based on reliable risk factors to improve patient outcomes following ileocolic surgeries for Crohn's disease.
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  • This study focuses on creating a blood test to identify fibrosis in patients with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) using a gene expression signature found in a mouse model.
  • Researchers developed a biomarker panel made up of three proteins: IGFBP7, SSc5D, and Sema4D, which effectively predicts different levels of liver fibrosis.
  • The new blood-based test shows better accuracy in detecting fibrosis stages compared to existing methods like Fib-4, APRI, and FibroScan, making it a promising tool for diagnosing MASLD-related liver issues.
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This study underscores GATA6's role in distinguishing classical and basal-like pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) phenotypes. Retrospective studies associate GATA6 immunohistochemistry (IHC) expression with survival outcomes, warranting prospective validation. In a prospective treatment-naive cohort of patients with resected PDAC, GATA6 IHC proves a prognostic discriminator, associating high GATA6 expression with extended survival and the classical PDAC phenotype.

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