Publications by authors named "Alexander Coukos"

Fontan surgery is vital for infants born with a single-ventricle heart. This intervention establishes a new blood flow circuit bypassing the single ventricle, thereby the separating pulmonary and systemic circulation to preserve single ventricular function. However, it carries risks of hepatic complications, collectively termed Fontan-associated liver disease (FALD), characterized by progressive hepatic congestion and fibrosis potentially leading to an equivalent of cirrhosis.

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Article Synopsis
  • Short telomeres, which can result from mutations in telomere maintenance genes, are linked to a condition called short telomere syndrome (STS), which includes hepatic issues like porto-sinusoidal vascular disorder (PSVD).
  • A study of 22 patients with histologically confirmed idiopathic PSVD found that 73% had short or very short telomeres, with significant associations to conditions like portal hypertension and chronic kidney disease.
  • The findings suggest a notable prevalence of short telomeres in PSVD patients, hinting that telomere biology might play a crucial role in liver vascular diseases, prompting clinicians to consider telomere measurement in these cases.
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Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have become a mainstay of cancer treatment. Their immune-boosting quality has one major drawback, their proclivity to induce a broad array of immune-related adverse events (irAEs) affecting, among others, the liver and sharing some similarities with classic autoimmune liver diseases (AILD).We aimed to compare clinical, laboratory and histological features of patients with liver-related irAEs and AILD.

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Short telomere syndrome (STS) is a group of rare, often underrecognized, diseases caused by defects in telomere-maintenance genes, leading to abnormal telomere shortening and associated with diverse multi-organ manifestations. In pediatric patients, STS typically presents with mucocutaneous or gastrointestinal lesions, bone marrow failure and neoplasia. In adulthood, aplastic bone marrow disease, liver disease and pulmonary fibrosis are classic clinical manifestations.

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Immunotherapy is revolutionizing cancer treatment but is often restricted by toxicities. What distinguishes adverse events from concomitant antitumor reactions is poorly understood. Here, using anti-CD40 treatment in mice as a model of T1-promoting immunotherapy, we showed that liver macrophages promoted local immune-related adverse events.

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