Publications by authors named "Anna Batistatou"

Oxidative stress has been implicated in several chronic pathological conditions, leading to cell death and injury. Alzheimer's disease (AD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have several overlapping mechanisms as they are both characterized by increased oxidative stress, inflammation, insulin resistance, and autophagy dysfunction. The objective of this study was to elucidate the possible neuroprotective effect of empagliflozin, a sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitor (SGLT2i), against hydrogen peroxide-induced neurotoxicity in primary hippocampal neurons derived from wild-type (WT) and transgenic AD rats (TgF344-AD).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common and aggressive types of cancer. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have proven effective in treating various types of cancer. The use of ICIs in GC patients is currently an area of ongoing research.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Dose-dense sequential (dds) chemotherapy has positively impacted long-term survival rates in early breast cancer patients, as shown in the observational trial HE 10/10.
  • The study analyzed the role of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and CD8 lymphocytes in predicting outcomes, finding that higher levels are linked to better survival.
  • With a median follow-up of over 10 years, the study reported disease-free survival (DFS) at 78.4% and overall survival (OS) at 81.7%, highlighting the regimen's efficacy and safety.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Lung cancer is one of the deadliest cancers worldwide, with a high incidence rate, especially in tobacco smokers. Lung cancer accurate diagnosis is based on distinct histological patterns combined with molecular data for personalized treatment. Precise lung cancer classification from a single H&E slide can be challenging for a pathologist, requiring most of the time additional histochemical and special immunohistochemical stains for the final pathology report.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Pleomorphic dermal sarcoma (PDS) is a rare mesenchymal tissue tumor. Its differential diagnosis from similar tumors, such as low differentiated squamous cell carcinoma, fibrosarcoma, desmoplastic melanoma, atypical fibroxanthoma (AFX), may be difficult, as they have similar clinical and histological presentation. We present a case of an 83-year-old man exhibiting an exophytic scalp lesion.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • A study investigated the role of CD8+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in early breast cancer patients who received adjuvant chemotherapy, revealing important prognostic implications based on their density in tumors.
  • Out of 928 patients, 627 had CD8+ data, with about 25% showing high levels of CD8 TILs, which were linked to more aggressive tumor characteristics and better survival rates.
  • High intratumoral (iCD8) and total (tCD8) counts were associated with longer disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS), indicating their potential as beneficial prognostic factors in managing early breast cancer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Flow Cytometry is an analytical technique for the precise quantification of cellular phenotype. Intraoperative Flow Cytometry (iFC) utilizes flow cytometry for DNA content/ploidy and cell cycle distribution analysis during surgery for cancer cell characterization and evaluation of tumor margins. Various types of cancers, including intracranial, head and neck, breast and liver malignancies have been evaluated with iFC.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most common cancer in women and the third most common in men, with an increasing incidence. Pathology diagnosis complemented with prognostic and predictive biomarker information is the first step for personalized treatment. The increased diagnostic load in the pathology laboratory, combined with the reported intra- and inter-variability in the assessment of biomarkers, has prompted the quest for reliable machine-based methods to be incorporated into the routine practice.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Coronavirus-related Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV) in 2002/2003, Middle-East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) in 2012/2013, and especially the current 2019/2021 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-2 (SARS-CoV-2) affected negatively the national health systems' endurance worldwide. SARS-Cov-2 virus belongs to lineage b of beta-CoVs demonstrating a strong phylogenetic similarity with BatCoVRaTG13 type. Spike (S) glycoprotein projections -consisting of two subunits S1/S2- provide a unique crown-like formation (corona) on virion's surface.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The detection of actionable mutations in tumor tissue is a prerequisite for treatment customization in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Analysis of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) for the identification of such mutations in patients' plasma is an attractive alternative to invasive tissue biopsies. Despite having the high analytical sensitivity required for ctDNA analysis, digital polymerase chain reaction (dPCR) technologies can only detect a very limited number of hotspot mutations, whilst a broader mutation panel is currently needed for clinical decision making.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: Angiogenesis is a crucial phenomenon in the development and progression of breast cancer (BC), but the clinical significance of angiogenesis-related proteins in metastatic BC remains unknown. This study investigates the prognostic value of vascular endothelial growth factor receptors 1, 2, 3 (VEGFR1, VEGFR2, VEGFR3) as well as vascular endothelial growth factors A and C (VEGFA and VEGFC) in metastatic BC patients treated with trastuzumab-based regimens.

Materials And Methods: Two hundred female patients were included.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The kinase haspin phosphorylates histone H3 at threonine-3 (H3T3ph) during mitosis. H3T3ph provides a docking site for the Chromosomal Passenger Complex at the centromere, enabling correction of erratic microtubule-chromosome contacts. Although this mechanism is operational in all dividing cells, haspin-null mice do not exhibit developmental anomalies, apart from aberrant testis architecture.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The development of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) involves the progressive accumulation of genetic and epigenetic changes. These include somatic oncogenic and mutations and inactivating tumour suppressor mutations, leading to activation of canonical NF-κB. However, the mechanism(s) by which canonical NF-κB contributes to NSCLC is still under investigation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: The aim of this study is to present a single department's experience on cervical cancer cases following previous excision of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and to discuss potential pathogenesis.

Methods: Nine cervical cancer cases meeting the inclusion criteria, with available pathological and follow-up data, were considered eligible for this study.

Results: The majority (7/9) have had clear excisional margins.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: Gastric cancer is the fifth most common neoplasm worldwide with high rates of mortality. Afatinib, a low molecular, irreversible potent inhibitor of ErbB trans-membrane receptor family, has shown promising results according to preclinical and phase I clinical trial data when combined with chemotherapy. We aimed at evaluating the safety and efficacy of the combination of cisplatin, 5FU with afatinib in molecularly unselected patients with advanced gastric cancer.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Mythical figures have been part of human cultural tradition for centuries, worldwide. Some of them were totally imaginary, others were likely inspired by individuals with malformation syndromes, while others are composites of parts of different species. Various artists have created works of art based on these mythical or hybrid beings, such as cyclops and chimeras.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Coronavirus-related Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-2 (SARS-CoV-2) initially was detected in Wuhan, Hubei, China. Since early 2021, World Health Organization (WHO) has declared Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) a pandemic due to rapidly transformed to a globally massive catastrophic viral infection. In order to confront this emergency situation, many pharmaceutical companies focused on the design and development of efficient vaccines that are considered necessary for providing a level of normalization in totally affected human social-economical activity worldwide.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Positive margins are the most important factor for recurrence of the disease after breast-conserving surgery. Several methods have been developed throughout the years to evaluate the margin status during surgery in an attempt to assist the surgeon in excising the whole tumor at once, a goal that has not yet been accomplished.

Patients And Methods: In our study, we compared intraoperative flow cytometry (iFC) with cytology and pathology in order to evaluate 606 samples of margins and tumors corresponding to 99 patients with invasive ductal carcinoma of no special type and invasive lobular carcinoma obtained from breast-conserving surgeries.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the role of the HER2 P95 isoform in patients with metastatic breast cancer who are treated with trastuzumab, focusing on its impact on treatment resistance.
  • A retrospective analysis of 114 patients revealed that higher P95 expression is linked to increased HER2 copy number variations and other aggressive cancer markers, suggesting a potential mechanism of resistance.
  • The findings indicate that patients with HER2-negative but high P95 expression may face a higher risk of death, highlighting the importance of P95 in understanding treatment outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Intraductal papillary neoplasm of the bile duct (IPNB) is a rare tumor in the West, with a high risk of becoming cancerous and uncertain prognosis, recognized by the WHO as a precursor to cholangiocarcinoma since 2010.
  • A case study describes a 63-year-old man who was asymptomatic but found to have a complex cystic lesion in his liver; he underwent surgery (left hepatectomy) which successfully removed the tumor with no recurrence noted after two years.
  • Proper diagnosis and treatment of IPNB are complicated and require advanced imaging techniques to ensure complete surgical resection, which significantly improves chances of long-term survival.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Angiogenesis has long been considered to facilitate and sustain cancer growth, making the introduction of anti-angiogenic agents that disrupt the vascular endothelial growth factor/receptor (VEGF/VEGFR) pathway an important milestone at the beginning of the 21st century. Originally research on VEGF signaling focused on its survival and mitogenic effects towards endothelial cells, with moderate so far success of anti-angiogenic therapy. However, VEGF can have multiple effects on additional cell types including immune and tumor cells, by directly influencing and promoting tumor cell survival, proliferation and invasion and contributing to an immunosuppressive microenvironment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The aim of the present study was to test whether inhibition of ovarian primordial follicles and subsequent activation can be achieved by transient mTOR inhibition. In this preclinical investigation, forty-five female immature Wistar rats were randomized in 5 groups. The control group received subcutaneous saline injections.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Helleborus cyclophyllus Boiss is a rhizomatous plant species, with strong allelochemical properties, that has been used since ancient times for its therapeutic properties. In the present study we investigated the ability of an aqueous-soluble fraction of the methanol extract of H. cyclophyllus Boiss leaves, to induce apoptotic cell death on A549 human bronchial epithelial adenocarcinoma cells.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background/aim: The expression of reverse transcriptase (RT) in ovaries, testes, gametes and embryos highlights its critical role in cell growth and differentiation. We sought to investigate the effects of the potent RT inhibitor lamivudine in gametogenesis and mouse embryo preimplantation development.

Materials And Methods: Male and female FVB/N mice were treated with the reverse transcriptase inhibitor Lamivudine for seven consecutive weeks.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: infection (CDI) has been reported to be a cause of flare-ups in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection can cause severe disease and complications in immunocompromised patients in consequence of disease or therapy.

Aim: Our aim was to describe the prevalence and clinical outcomes of CDI with concomitant CMV infection in IBD patients hospitalized for flare-ups in association with the disease itself and medication used.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF