Publications by authors named "Brian Diskin"

Background: The National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines consider pancreatic cancer with celiac axis (CA), proper hepatic artery (PHA), and superior mesenteric artery (SMA) involvement unresectable. Thus, technical reports and video illustrations of these operations are rare. We report the stepwise management of multivascular reconstruction for Mayo Clinic class IIIb CA resections at New York University Langone Health, a dedicated center of excellence in pancreatic surgery.

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Background: Breast conserving surgery (BCS) is well established for the management of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), but neither randomized trials nor guidelines address management of ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence (IBTR) after BCS for DCIS.

Patients And Methods: We identified women treated with BCS for DCIS who developed IBTR as a first event. Between those treated with mastectomy versus re-BCS, we compare the clinicopathologic characteristics, the use of adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) both upfront ("primary RT") and post IBTR ("secondary RT"), of tamoxifen, the rate of third events (local, regional, distant), and both breast cancer specific (BCSS) and overall survival (OS).

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Background Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the role of site-specific metastatic patterns over time and assess factors associated with extended survival in metastatic PDAC. Half of all patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) present with metastatic disease. The site of metastasis plays a crucial role in clinical decision making due to its prognostic value.

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The COVID-19 pandemic strained healthcare systems worldwide, delaying breast cancer screening and surgery. In 2019, approximately 80% of breast cancers in the U.S.

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Response to cancer immunotherapy in primary versus metastatic disease has not been well-studied. We found primary pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is responsive to diverse immunotherapies whereas liver metastases are resistant. We discovered divergent immune landscapes in each compartment.

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The gut microbiome shapes local and systemic immunity. The liver is presumed to be a protected sterile site. As such, a hepatic microbiome has not been examined.

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KRAS is the most frequently mutated human oncogene, and KRAS inhibition has been a longtime goal. Recently, inhibitors were developed that bind KRASG12C-GDP and react with Cys-12 (G12C-Is). Using new affinity reagents to monitor KRASG12C activation and inhibitor engagement, we found that an SHP2 inhibitor (SHP2-I) increases KRAS-GDP occupancy, enhancing G12C-I efficacy.

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Piezo1 is a mechanosensitive ion channel that has gained recognition for its role in regulating diverse physiological processes. However, the influence of Piezo1 in inflammatory disease, including infection and tumor immunity, is not well studied. We postulated that Piezo1 links physical forces to immune regulation in myeloid cells.

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Programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) ligation delimits immunogenic responses in T cells. However, the consequences of programmed cell death 1 ligand 1 (PD-L1) ligation in T cells are uncertain. We found that T cell expression of PD-L1 in cancer was regulated by tumor antigen and sterile inflammatory cues.

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Cyclin-dependent kinase 7 (CDK7) is a central regulator of the cell cycle and gene transcription. However, little is known about its impact on genomic instability and cancer immunity. Using a selective CDK7 inhibitor, YKL-5-124, we demonstrated that CDK7 inhibition predominately disrupts cell-cycle progression and induces DNA replication stress and genome instability in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) while simultaneously triggering immune-response signaling.

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Bacterial dysbiosis accompanies carcinogenesis in malignancies such as colon and liver cancer, and has recently been implicated in the pathogenesis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA). However, the mycobiome has not been clearly implicated in tumorigenesis. Here we show that fungi migrate from the gut lumen to the pancreas, and that this is implicated in the pathogenesis of PDA.

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Background And Aims: The recruitment and activation of inflammatory cells in the liver delineates the transition from hepatic steatosis to steatohepatitis (SH).

Approach And Results: We found that in SH, γδT cells are recruited to the liver by C-C chemokine receptor (CCR) 2, CCR5, and nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-containing protein 2 signaling and are skewed toward an interleukin (IL)-17A phenotype in an inducible costimulator (ICOS)/ICOS ligand-dependent manner. γδT cells exhibit a distinct Vγ4 , PD1 , Ly6C CD44 phenotype in SH.

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Article Synopsis
  • Unconventional T-lymphocyte populations, specifically innate αβ T cells (iαβTs), play a significant role in regulating tumor immunity, particularly in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA).
  • iαβTs make up around 10% of T lymphocytes in PDA and have unique T-cell receptor profiles and immunogenic characteristics compared to other lymphocytes.
  • The study demonstrates that iαβT cells not only help slow tumor growth through adoptive transfer in both mouse and human models but also promote the activation and expansion of other immune cells, marking them as promising targets for immunotherapy.
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The drivers and the specification of CD4 T cell differentiation in the tumor microenvironment and their contributions to tumor immunity or tolerance are incompletely understood. Using models of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA), we show that a distinct subset of tumor-infiltrating dendritic cells (DC) promotes PDA growth by directing a unique T-program. Specifically, CD11bCD103 DC predominate in PDA, express high IL-23 and TGF-β, and induce FoxP3 tumor-promoting IL-10IL-17IFNγregulatory CD4 T cells.

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Article Synopsis
  • Liver fibrosis and related cancer are major health issues linked to chronic inflammation, highlighting the significance of targeting SYK signaling.
  • Researchers found high levels of SYK in liver cells, suggesting that inhibiting it with specific molecules can reduce liver damage, inflammation, and cancer progression.
  • In vivo studies showed that blocking SYK in myeloid cells is particularly effective, leading to improved liver health and presenting SYK as a promising target for new treatments.
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Article Synopsis
  • Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is resistant to immunotherapy and shows immune tolerance, making treatment challenging.
  • Researchers identified an increased level of RIP1 in tumor-associated macrophages in PDA and developed a specific RIP1 inhibitor that effectively targets these macrophages.
  • Inhibiting RIP1 leads to enhanced immune responses by activating cytotoxic T cells and promoting a beneficial immune environment, suggesting that targeting RIP1 could improve immunotherapy outcomes for PDA.
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Adaptive resistance to MEK inhibitors (MEKi) typically occurs via induction of genes for different receptor tyrosine kinases (RTK) and/or their ligands, even in tumors of the same histotype, making combination strategies challenging. SHP2 () is required for RAS/ERK pathway activation by most RTKs and might provide a common resistance node. We found that combining the SHP2 inhibitor SHP099 with a MEKi inhibited the proliferation of multiple cancer cell lines knockdown/MEKi treatment had similar effects, whereas expressing SHP099 binding-defective mutants conferred resistance, demonstrating that SHP099 is on-target.

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We found that the cancerous pancreas harbors a markedly more abundant microbiome compared with normal pancreas in both mice and humans, and select bacteria are differentially increased in the tumorous pancreas compared with gut. Ablation of the microbiome protects against preinvasive and invasive pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA), whereas transfer of bacteria from PDA-bearing hosts, but not controls, reverses tumor protection. Bacterial ablation was associated with immunogenic reprogramming of the PDA tumor microenvironment, including a reduction in myeloid-derived suppressor cells and an increase in M1 macrophage differentiation, promoting TH1 differentiation of CD4 T cells and CD8 T-cell activation.

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The tumor microenvironment (TME) in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is characterized by immune tolerance, which enables disease to progress unabated by adaptive immunity. However, the drivers of this tolerogenic program are incompletely defined. In this study, we found that NLRP3 promotes expansion of immune-suppressive macrophages in PDA.

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