Ulcerative Colitis Severity Classification and Localised Extent (UC-SCALE): An Artificial Intelligence scoring system for a spatial assessment of disease severity in Ulcerative Colitis.

Background & Aims: Validated scoring methods such as the Mayo Clinic Endoscopic Subscore (MCES) evaluate ulcerative colitis (UC) severity at the worst colon segment, without considering disease extent. We present the Ulcerative Colitis Severity Classification and Localised Extent (UC-SCALE) algorithm, which provides a comprehensive and automated evaluation of endoscopic severity and disease extent in UC.

Methods: UC-SCALE consists of 3 main elements: 1) a quality filter selecting readable images (frames) from colonoscopy videos, 2) a scoring system assigning a MCES to each readable frame, and 3) a camera localisation algorithm assigning each frame to a location within the colon.

Prognostic and theranostic 18F-FDG PET biomarkers for anti-PD1 immunotherapy in metastatic melanoma: association with outcome and transcriptomics.

Purpose: An imaging-based stratification tool is needed to identify melanoma patients who will benefit from anti Programmed Death-1 antibody (anti-PD1). We aimed at identifying biomarkers for survival and response evaluated in lymphoid tissue metabolism in spleen and bone marrow before initiation of therapy.

Methods: This retrospective study included 55 patients from two institutions who underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT before anti-PD1.

TLR4-Dependent Secretion by Hepatic Stellate Cells of the Neutrophil-Chemoattractant CXCL1 Mediates Liver Response to Gut Microbiota.

Background & Aims: The gut microbiota significantly influences hepatic immunity. Little is known on the precise mechanism by which liver cells mediate recognition of gut microbes at steady state. Here we tested the hypothesis that a specific liver cell population was the sensor and we aimed at deciphering the mechanism by which the activation of TLR4 pathway would mediate liver response to gut microbiota.

Malaria Sporozoites Traverse Host Cells within Transient Vacuoles.

Plasmodium sporozoites are deposited in the host skin by Anopheles mosquitoes. The parasites migrate from the dermis to the liver, where they invade hepatocytes through a moving junction (MJ) to form a replicative parasitophorous vacuole (PV). Malaria sporozoites need to traverse cells during progression through host tissues, a process requiring parasite perforin-like protein 1 (PLP1).

TTC7A mutations disrupt intestinal epithelial apicobasal polarity.

Multiple intestinal atresia (MIA) is a rare cause of bowel obstruction that is sometimes associated with a combined immunodeficiency (CID), leading to increased susceptibility to infections. The factors underlying this rare disease are poorly understood. We characterized the immunological and intestinal features of 6 unrelated MIA-CID patients.

TLRs in Hepatic Cellular Crosstalk.

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are expressed on all major subsets of liver cells. Both exogenous ligands derived from pathogens, and endogenous ligands that are products of cellular injury, engage these receptors and activate aspects of innate immunity. These receptors play a role in viral and parasitic infections of the liver, in ischemia-reperfusion injury, and in toxic liver damage, promoting antipathogen immunity but also hepatocellular injury and fibrogenesis.

Obesity-induced lymphocyte hyperresponsiveness to chemokines: a new mechanism of Fatty liver inflammation in obese mice.

Background & Aims: Hepatic lipid retention (steatosis) predisposes hepatitis. We investigated the mechanisms of lymphocyte homing to fatty liver and the role of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in the onset of inflammation in ob/ob mice.

Methods: We decreased intestinal bacterial compounds by oral antibiotic treatment to test the role of endogenous LPS in liver inflammation.