Publications by authors named "Kotsakis A"

Liquid biopsy enables real-time monitoring of tumor development and response to therapy through the analysis of CTCs and ctDNA. NALCN is a sodium leak channel that is frequently involved in tumor evolution and immunity and acts as a tumor suppressor. Deletion of NALCN has been shown to increase cancer metastasis and the number of CTCs in peripheral blood.

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PARP inhibitors (PARPi) have shown efficacy in tumours harbouring mutations in homologous recombination repair (HRR) genes. Somatic HRR mutations have been described in patients with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC), but PARP inhibitors (PARPi) are not yet a therapeutic option. Here we assessed the homologous recombination status of early-stage NSCLC and explored the therapeutic benefit of PARPi in preclinical models.

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Background: Neoadjuvant systemic therapy (NAT) represents an attractive option for improved outcomes of early-stage breast cancer (BC) patients, as it can significantly reduce tumor burden thus permitting breast-conserving resections. Equally important, the eradication of viable cancer cells post-NAT, also known as pathological complete response (pCR), has emerged as a strong prognostic biomarker, reflecting tumor's biology and subsequent treatment responses. Yet to date, no validated markers predictive of pCR have been identified.

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Article Synopsis
  • Lung cancer is a major global health issue, with challenges in early detection and relapse identification; blood-based liquid biopsies show potential in non-invasive monitoring.
  • Researchers used a comprehensive approach combining various datasets to identify candidate biomarkers in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), connecting them to specific molecular pathways.
  • Results indicated that certain metabolites and RNA expressions in plasma EVs correlate with disease progression and overall survival in NSCLC patients, highlighting their potential as prognostic biomarkers.
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The increased metastatic ability of small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) necessitates the identification of new prognostic biomarkers for clinical evaluation during the disease course. Our previous research highlighted the clinical relevance of transcription factor JunB (JUNB), C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4), and programmed cell death 1 ligand 1 (PD-L1) in breast and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. In the current study, we examined these biomarkers in circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and plasma-derived exosomes from 100 treatment-naïve SCLC patients.

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  • The study investigates the genetic landscape of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and its impact on resistance to osimertinib, using liquid biopsy to identify resistance mechanisms.
  • It analyzed plasma-circulating free DNA (cfDNA) and circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from 30 NSCLC patients, detecting various molecular alterations that could indicate resistance to treatment.
  • Findings revealed discrepancies in the mutation presence between cfDNA and CTCs, suggesting that combining both analyses provides a broader understanding of resistance and potential treatment options.
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In Houston, Texas, nitrogen dioxide (NO) air pollution disproportionately affects Black, Latinx, and Asian communities, and high ozone (O) days are frequent. There is limited knowledge of how NO inequalities vary in urban air quality contexts, in part from the lack of time-varying neighborhood-level NO measurements. First, we demonstrate that daily TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) NO tropospheric vertical column densities (TVCDs) resolve a major portion of census tract-scale NO inequalities in Houston, comparing NO inequalities based on TROPOMI TVCDs and spatiotemporally coincident airborne remote sensing (250 m × 560 m) from the NASA TRacking Aerosol Convection ExpeRiment-Air Quality (TRACER-AQ).

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Green exercise, defined as physical activity in natural settings, shows promise for enhancing exercise participation and improving health. This systematic review aimed to assess the effectiveness of green exercise in people with chronic conditions. Seven electronic databases were searched and of the 7801 screened articles, 14 trials met the inclusion criteria.

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  • * A study involving 52 stage III/IV NSCLC patients showed that 44% had detectable pre-existing T cells specific to tumors, and those patients had better median overall survival rates compared to those without these T cells.
  • * The research highlighted that patients with pre-existing T cells and low levels of certain immunosuppressive cells had a significant survival advantage, suggesting that evaluating these immune cell characteristics could help identify which patients are likely to benefit most from immunotherapy.
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CXCR4, JUNB and PD-L1 are implicated in cancer progression and metastasis. The current study investigated these biomarkers in CTCs isolated from metastatic prostate cancer (mPCa) patients at the RNA and protein levels. CTCs were isolated from 48 mPCa patients using the Ficoll density gradient and ISET system (17 out of 48).

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This cross-sectional epidemiological study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of injuries among young archers engaged in high-intensity training during the European Youth Championship. A total of 200 participants (104 males/96 females) from 34 countries were included, with a mean age of 16.9 years and average competitive experience of 6.

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Aims: The impact of newly detected diabetes mellitus (NDDM) on metabolic parameters and extent of myocardial necrosis in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is not fully explored. We examined the impact of NDDM on cardiometabolic characteristics and myocardial necrosis in ACS patients.

Methods: CALLINICUS-Hellas Registry is an ongoing prospective multicenter observational study evaluating the adherence to lipid-lowering therapy (LLT) among ACS patients in Greece.

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SCLC is an aggressive cancer type with high metastatic potential and bad prognosis. CTCs are a valuable source of tumor cells in blood circulation and are among the major contributors to metastasis. In this study we evaluated the number of CTCs that express PD-L1 in treatment-naïve ES-SCLC patients receiving ICI in a front-line setting.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study explores the effectiveness of PARP inhibitors in treating various cancers, focusing on the relationship between genomic loss of heterozygosity (gLOH) and gene alterations in patients.
  • It analyzes 406 tumor samples using next-generation sequencing (NGS), highlighting that nearly 21% of tumors displayed homologous recombination (HR) variations, while about 5% had gene alterations.
  • The findings suggest a strong correlation between high gLOH percentages and positive gene alterations, indicating that assessing gLOH could help identify more patients who may benefit from PARP inhibitors.
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  • The study investigated the clinical significance of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) who were receiving cabazitaxel treatment.
  • Results showed that a high number of CTCs detected at baseline and after the first treatment cycle were linked to shorter progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS).
  • The presence of non-apoptotic CTCs at baseline was identified as an independent predictor of poorer OS, suggesting that monitoring CTCs could help gauge treatment effectiveness and patient prognosis.
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Objective: Aim: This study was to map the relationship between psychosocial work environment and nurses' performance, on studies that used the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ).

Patients And Methods: Materials and Methods: The review intended to answer following questions: 'Can COPSOQ screen completely psychosocial risks of nurses' work environment?' 'Which of these dimensions affect more nurses psychosocial world? A scoping review was developed guided by the JBI methodology and using PRISMA-ScR.

Conclusion: Conclusions: Hospital workers, and in particular nurses, are exposed to different risk factors with the most important being psychosocial risks.

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  • Metastasis is responsible for around 90% of breast cancer deaths, with microtentacles (McTNs) playing a key role in this process, particularly in the aggressive triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) subtype which lacks effective targeted therapies.
  • The study focused on isolating viable circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from 20 TNBC patients to assess their response to the drug vinorelbine, finding that this treatment led to a significant increase in CTC numbers and induced apoptosis in these cancer cells.
  • Results indicated that vinorelbine not only triggered cell death but also decreased specific markers (like PD-L1) and disrupted McTNs, highlighting a promising method
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  • The study aimed to assess the prevalence and significance of gene alterations in European prostate cancer patients using a specific genetic testing panel targeting 36 key genes.
  • A total of 196 patients were analyzed, revealing that 61% had gene alterations, with 17.3% specifically showing changes in homologous recombination repair (HRR) genes.
  • The presence of HRR gene alterations did not correlate with factors such as disease stage, age, or overall survival, highlighting the need for further research on their predictive value in treatment approaches.
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A 56-year-old male living donor kidney transplant recipient presented with a giant cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma in his right parotid region. Programmed radiotherapy had been previously terminated due to lesion ulceration and bleeding. He was characterized as a terminal case.

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Pulmonary nodules are common in the everyday clinical practice. There is always a diagnostic issue with this imaging finding. Based on the size we can use a variety of imaging and diagnostic techniques.

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Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive breast cancer subtype. There are few targeted therapies for these patients, leading to an unmet need for new biomarkers. The present study aimed to investigate the expression of PD-L1, CTLA-4, GLU, and VIM in CTCs of TNBC patients.

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Purpose: We assessed whether preoperativemutational analyses of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and plasma-cfDNA could be used as minimally invasive biomarkers and as complimentary tools for early prediction of relapse in early-stage non-small -cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Experimental Design: Using ddPCR assays, hotspot mutations of and were identified in plasma-cfDNA samples and size-based enriched CTCs isolated from the same blood samples of 49 early-stage NSCLC patients before surgery and in a control group of healthy blood donors (= 22). Direct concordance of the mutational spectrum was further evaluated in 27 patient-matched plasma-cfDNA and CTC-derived DNA in comparison to tissue-derived DNA.

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In the present study, we evaluated the expression of JUNB and CXCR4 in circulating tumor cells (CTCs) of lung cancer patients and investigated whether these proteins have prognostic clinical relevance. Peripheral blood from 30 patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was filtered using ISET membranes, and cytospins from 37 patients with small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) were analyzed using confocal and VyCAP microscopy. Both JUNB and CXCR4 were expressed in the vast majority of lung cancer patients.

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