{"title":"Impact of preceding treatment for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma on synchronous superficial esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.","authors":"Tomoya Ueda, Ryu Ishihara, Yasuhiro Tani, Yoshiaki Ando, Gentaro Tanabe, Yuta Fujimoto, Noriaki Ito, Nobutoshi Tsukuda, Kazuki Matsuyama, Muneshin Morita, Minoru Kato, Shunsuke Yoshii, Satoki Shichijo, Takashi Kanesaka, Sachiko Yamamoto, Koji Higashino, Noriya Uedo, Tomoki Michida, Takashi Fujii","doi":"10.1007/s00535-024-02201-z","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00535-024-02201-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) frequently develop synchronous head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). With advances in endoscopic technology and widespread screening of synchronous cancers, the detection of synchronous HNSCC and superficial ESCC (SESCC) is increasing. We aimed to evaluate the impact of preceding HNSCC treatment on synchronous SESCC.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This single-center retrospective study enrolled patients with synchronous HNSCC and SESCC who were treated between January 2010 and December 2023. Tumor size and depth of SESCC before and after HNSCC treatment were evaluated. The factors associated with SESCC progression were investigated.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Of the 299 patients with synchronous HNSCC and SESCC, 134 who underwent preceding HNSCC treatment with follow-up esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) for SESCC were evaluated. Chemoradiotherapy was the most common treatment for HNSCC (56.0%), followed by surgery (17.2%), radiotherapy (14.9%), local resection (7.5%), and chemotherapy (4.5%). The tumor size of SESCC increased after HNSCC treatment in 18 patients (13.4%). Multivariate analysis revealed that an EGD interval of ≥ 120 days was significantly associated with increased tumor size in SESCC (odds ratio, 6.64; 95% confidence interval, 1.91-23.1). Tumor regrowth was observed in 70.6% of SESCCs that shrank with HNSCC treatment, mostly within six months. Tumor depth aggravation was rare (2.2%), but progression to advanced ESCC was observed in two patients.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Timely endoscopic follow-up, preferably within 120 days, is crucial for managing synchronous SESCC after HNSCC treatment to prevent tumor progression. Tumor regrowth should be monitored when SESCC shrinks with HNSCC treatment.</p>","PeriodicalId":16059,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Gastroenterology","volume":" ","pages":"397-407"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142807430","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"First-line biologics as a treatment for ulcerative colitis: a multicenter randomized control study.","authors":"Makoto Naganuma, Hisashi Shiga, Masayuki Shimoda, Minoru Matsuura, Kento Takenaka, Toshimitsu Fujii, Shojiro Yamamoto, Mao Matsubayashi, Taku Kobayashi, Nobuo Aoyama, Daisuke Saito, Kaoru Yokoyama, Kei Moriya, Kiichiro Tsuchiya, Shunsuke Shibui, Ami Kawamoto, Hiromichi Shimizu, Ryuichi Okamoto, Kazuki Sakamoto, Katsuki Yaguchi, Reiko Kunisaki, Shintaro Akiyama, Ryohei Hayashi, Keisuke Hasui, Shuji Kanmura, Shigeki Bamba, Yoshiyuki Mishima, Kazuki Kakimoto, Shinya Sugimoto, Atsushi Nakazawa, Takayuki Abe, Haruhiko Ogata, Tadakazu Hisamatsu","doi":"10.1007/s00535-025-02216-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00535-025-02216-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Despite the availability of several biologics for ulcerative colitis (UC), there remains a critical need to identify first-line treatment biologics. The superiority of infliximab (IFX) over vedolizumab (VED) and ustekinumab (UST) was evaluated as initial UC treatments in patients with biologic-naïve UC.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This multicenter, randomized control trial was conducted across 20 Japanese medical institutions. An independent center randomly allocated patients with UC (Mayo score ≥ 6) who had not previously used biologics to three treatment groups (IFX, VED, UST). The primary endpoint was the clinical remission (CR) rate at week 12, with other endpoints including the treatment continuation rate at week 26 and adverse events (AEs).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>From May 2021 to June 2023, 107 cases were registered, including 104 for safety and 97 for efficacy evaluation. CR rate at week 12 was 36.4% (95%CI:20.4-54.9), 32.4% (95%CI:17.4-50.5) and 43.3% (95%CI:25.5-62.6) in IFX, VED, and UST group, respectively. Continuation rates at week 26 were 50.0%(IFX), 58.3% (VED), and 82.4% (UST). AEs related to study medication were 14.7% (IFX), 16.7% (VED), and 5.9% (UST). Predictors for CR at week 12 were thiopurine use in IFX (p = 0.04), lower baseline Mayo score (p = 0.007), and lower Patient report outcome 2 (p = 0.003) at week 2 in VED.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Due to small sample size, it is challenging to make conclusions for main endpoints from this study while our study suggested that use of thiopurines in IFX group and lower activity at enrollment in VED group may enhance treatment efficacy. (jRCT1031200329; available at https://jrct.niph.go.jp/ ).</p>","PeriodicalId":16059,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Gastroenterology","volume":" ","pages":"430-441"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143066183","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Feng Zhang, Yong-Shuai Wang, Shao-Peng Li, Bin Zhao, Nan Huang, Rui-Peng Song, Fan-Zheng Meng, Zhi-Wen Feng, Shen-Yu Zhang, Hua-Chuan Song, Xiao-Peng Chen, Lian-Xin Liu, Ji-Zhou Wang
{"title":"Alpha-fetoprotein combined with initial tumor shape irregularity in predicting the survival of patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma treated with immune-checkpoint inhibitors: a retrospective multi-center cohort study.","authors":"Feng Zhang, Yong-Shuai Wang, Shao-Peng Li, Bin Zhao, Nan Huang, Rui-Peng Song, Fan-Zheng Meng, Zhi-Wen Feng, Shen-Yu Zhang, Hua-Chuan Song, Xiao-Peng Chen, Lian-Xin Liu, Ji-Zhou Wang","doi":"10.1007/s00535-024-02202-y","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00535-024-02202-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are playing a significant role in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study aims to explore the prognostic value of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and initial tumor shape irregularity in patients treated with ICIs.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In this retrospective, multi-center study, 296 HCC patients were randomly divided into the training set and the validation set in a 3:2 ratio. The training set was used to evaluate prognostic factors and to develop an easily applicable ATSI (AFP and Tumor Shape Irregularity) score, which was verified in the validation set.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The ATSI score was developed from two independent prognostic risk factors: baseline AFP ≥ 400 ng/ml (HR 1.73, 95% CI 1.01-2.96, P = 0.046) and initial tumor shape irregularity (HR 1.94, 95% CI 1.03-3.65, P = 0.041). The median overall survival (OS) was not reached (95% CI 28.20-NA) in patients who met no criteria (0 points), 25.8 months (95% CI 14.17-NA) in patients who met one criterion (1 point), and 17.03 months (95% CI 11.73-23.83) in patients who met two criteria (2 points) (P = 0.001). The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 10.83 months (95% CI 9.27-14.33) for 0 points, 8.03 months (95% CI 6.77-10.57) for 1 point, and 5.03 months (95% CI 3.83-9.67) for 2 points (P < 0.001). The validation set effectively verified these results (median OS, 37.43/24.27/14.03 months for 0/1/2 points, P = 0.028; median PFS, 13.93/8.30/4.90 months for 0/1/2 points, P < 0.001).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The ATSI score can effectively predict prognosis in HCC patients receiving ICIs.</p>","PeriodicalId":16059,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Gastroenterology","volume":" ","pages":"442-455"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11922967/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142877374","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Rex Devasahayam Arokia Balaya, Partho Sen, Caroline W Grant, Roman Zenka, Marimuthu Sappani, Jeyaseelan Lakshmanan, Arjun P Athreya, Richard K Kandasamy, Akhilesh Pandey, Seul Kee Byeon
{"title":"An integrative multi-omics analysis reveals a multi-analyte signature of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma in serum.","authors":"Rex Devasahayam Arokia Balaya, Partho Sen, Caroline W Grant, Roman Zenka, Marimuthu Sappani, Jeyaseelan Lakshmanan, Arjun P Athreya, Richard K Kandasamy, Akhilesh Pandey, Seul Kee Byeon","doi":"10.1007/s00535-024-02197-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00535-024-02197-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains a formidable health challenge due to its detection at a late stage and a lack of reliable biomarkers for early detection. Although levels of carbohydrate antigen 19-9 are often used in conjunction with imaging-based tests to aid in the diagnosis of PDAC, there is still a need for more sensitive and specific biomarkers for early detection of PDAC.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We obtained serum samples from 88 subjects (patients with PDAC (n = 58) and controls (n = 30)). We carried out a multi-omics analysis to measure cytokines and related proteins using proximity extension technology and lipidomics and metabolomics using tandem mass spectrometry. Statistical analysis was carried out to find molecular alterations in patients with PDAC and a machine learning model was used to derive a molecular signature of PDAC.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We quantified 1,462 circulatory proteins along with 873 lipids and 1,001 metabolites. A total of 505 proteins, 186 metabolites and 33 lipids including bone marrow stromal antigen 2 (BST2), keratin 18 (KRT18), and cholesteryl ester(20:5) were found to be significantly altered in patients. We identified different levels of sphingosine, sphinganine, urobilinogen and lactose indicating that glycosphingolipid and galactose metabolisms were significantly altered in patients compared to controls. In addition, elevated levels of diacylglycerols and decreased cholesteryl esters were observed in patients. Using a machine learning model, we identified a signature of 38 biomarkers for PDAC, composed of 21 proteins, 4 lipids, and 13 metabolites.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Overall, this study identified several proteins, metabolites and lipids involved in various pathways including cholesterol and lipid metabolism to be changing in patients. In addition, we discovered a multi-analyte signature that could be further tested for detection of PDAC.</p>","PeriodicalId":16059,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Gastroenterology","volume":" ","pages":"496-511"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142813338","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Elevated A2F bisect N-glycans of serum IgA reflect progression of liver fibrosis in patients with MASLD.","authors":"Hisatoshi Hanamatsu, Goki Suda, Masatsugu Ohara, Koji Ogawa, Nobuharu Tamaki, Hayato Hikita, Hiroaki Haga, Shinya Maekawa, Masaya Sugiyama, Tatsuhiko Kakisaka, Masato Nakai, Takuya Sho, Nobuaki Miura, Masayuki Kurosaki, Yasuhiro Asahina, Akinobu Taketomi, Yoshiyuki Ueno, Tetsuo Takehara, Takashi Nishikaze, Jun-Ichi Furukawa, Naoya Sakamoto","doi":"10.1007/s00535-024-02206-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00535-024-02206-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Advanced liver fibrosis in cases of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) leads to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The current gold standard for liver fibrosis is invasive liver biopsy. Therefore, a less invasive biomarker that accurately reflects the stage of liver fibrosis is highly desirable.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This study enrolled 269 patients with liver biopsy-proven MASLD. Patients were divided into three groups (F0/1 (n = 41/85), F2 (n = 47), and F3/4 (n = 72/24)) according to fibrosis stage. We performed serum N-glycomics and identified glycan biomarker for fibrosis stage. Moreover, we explored the carrier proteins and developed a sandwich ELISA to measure N-glycosylation changes of carrier protein.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Comprehensive N-glycomic analysis revealed significant changes in the expression of A2F bisect and its precursors as fibrosis progressed. The sum of neutral N-glycans carrying bisecting GlcNAc and core Fuc (neutral sum) had a better diagnostic performance to evaluate advanced liver fibrosis (AUC = 0.804) than conventional parameters (FIB4 index, aspartate aminotransferase-to-alanine aminotransferase ratio (AAR), and serum level of Mac-2-binding protein glycol isomer (M2BPGi). The combination of the neutral sum and FIB4 index enhanced diagnostic performance (AUC = 0.840). IgM, IgA, and complement C3 were identified as carrier proteins with A2F bisect N-glycan. A sandwich ELISA based on N-glycans carrying bisecting GlcNAc and IgA showed similar diagnostic performance than the neutral sum.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>A2F bisect N-glycan and its precursors are promising candidate biomarkers for advanced fibrosis in MASLD patients. Analysis of these glycan alterations on IgA may have the potential to serve as a novel ELISA diagnostic tool for MASLD in routine clinical practice.</p><p><strong>Clinical trial number: </strong>UMIN000030720.</p>","PeriodicalId":16059,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Gastroenterology","volume":" ","pages":"456-468"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11922979/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143028928","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Liver fibrotic burden across the spectrum of hypothyroidism.","authors":"Tingting Du, Yuchai Huang, Yongman Lv, Gang Yuan","doi":"10.1007/s00535-024-02184-x","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00535-024-02184-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Data regarding the prevalence of hepatic fibrotic burden across the spectrum of hypothyroidism are scarce. Hence, we aimed to evaluate the prevalence of liver fibrotic burden across the spectrum of hypothyroidism.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>30,091 individuals who attended a Health Management Centre between 2019 and 2021 were cross-sectionally analyzed. Participants were categorized as having strict-normal thyroid function, low-normal thyroid function, subclinical hypothyroidism, and overt hypothyroidism. Hepatic fibrosis was assessed by vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE). Significant and advanced fibrosis were defined as liver stiffness measurement in VCTE of 8.1-9.6 and 9.7-13.5 kPa, respectively.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Among both men and women, low-normal thyroid function group, subclinical hypothyroidism group, and overt hypothyroidism group all have more liver fibrosis present, including mild fibrosis, significant fibrosis, advanced fibrosis, and cirrhosis, than the strict-normal thyroid function group. The low-normal thyroid function group have the similar liver fibrotic burden to the subclinical hypothyroidism group. The highest liver fibrotic burden was noted in the overt hypothyroidism group. Both significant and advanced liver fibrosis were significantly associated with low-normal thyroid function, subclinical hypothyroidism, and overt hypothyroidism in both men and women.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Liver fibrotic burden are highly prevalent in subjects with overt hypothyroidism. Moreover, fibrotic burden increased across the spectrum of hypothyroidism even within the low normal thyroid function. These results suggested that screening for liver fibrosis in patients with hypothyroidism is necessary.</p>","PeriodicalId":16059,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Gastroenterology","volume":" ","pages":"315-327"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11880098/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142729602","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cox proportional hazards regression reveals more than a 100-fold difference in cancer risk by the length of Barrett's esophagus in Japan.","authors":"Katsunori Iijima, Sho Fukuda, Kenta Watanabe","doi":"10.1007/s00535-024-02208-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00535-024-02208-6","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":16059,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Gastroenterology","volume":" ","pages":"387-388"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143006557","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Acknowledgements.","authors":"","doi":"10.1007/s00535-025-02229-9","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00535-025-02229-9","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":16059,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Gastroenterology","volume":" ","pages":"392-395"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143468308","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"YAP acts as an independent prognostic marker and regulates growth and metastasis of gastrointestinal stromal tumors via FBXW7-YAP pathway.","authors":"Xiyu Wu, Kohei Yamashita, Chihiro Matsumoto, Weiliyun Zhang, Ming Ding, Kazuto Harada, Keisuke Kosumi, Kojiro Eto, Satoshi Ida, Yuji Miyamoto, Masaaki Iwatsuki","doi":"10.1007/s00535-024-02180-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00535-024-02180-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Although imatinib (IM) and subsequent tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) significantly improve the prognosis of GIST patients by delaying metastasis and recurrence, most patients experience limited efficacy due to toxicity and secondary resistance. We evaluated Yes-associated protein (YAP), a coactivator of the Hippo pathway accounting for IM resistance and aggressive GIST phenotypes, in GISTs. The degradation of YAP is mediated by FBXW7, and FBXW7 predicts recurrence and IM efficacy for GIST patients. Here, we aimed to identify the potential of YAP as a prognostic marker for patients with GISTs, and the molecular mechanism of FBXW7-YAP pathway in GIST cells.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We measured YAP expression in 167 GIST cases using immunohistochemical staining, correlated its expression levels with clinicopathological features, and the molecular mechanism underlying the FBXW7-YAP pathway was further examined in vitro and in vivo.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Compared to 80 (47.9%) cases in the low YAP expression group, 87 (52.1%) cases with high YAP expression associated with a poorer prognosis in terms of overall survival (P = 0.004) and recurrence-free survival (P = 0.003). YAP expression was identified as a significant independent factor affecting the 5-year overall survival (P = 0.005) and recurrence-free survival rates (P = 0.007). Moreover, YAP was directly targeted by FBXW7 to affect proliferation, invasion, and migration in GIST cells. High YAP expression correlated with FBXW7 deficiency, as shown in xenograft and metastasis mouse models.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>YAP expression serves as a predictive marker of recurrence for GIST patients with curative resection, highlighting its potential as a novel therapeutic target that warrants further investigation.</p>","PeriodicalId":16059,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Gastroenterology","volume":" ","pages":"275-284"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142668300","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}