Publications by authors named "P Costeas"

Article Synopsis
  • CD8+ T cells play a vital role in fighting cancer, but their functionality is compromised in higher-risk myelodysplastic neoplasms (HR-MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
  • An analysis of 104 pre-treatment bone marrow samples revealed that patients who did not respond to azacitidine therapy had higher levels of a specific CD8+ T cell subset (CD57+CXCR3+), which was linked to worse survival outcomes.
  • The study also highlighted that successful treatment responses were associated with stronger IFN signaling, while non-responders showed increased TGF-β signaling, suggesting that combining TGF-β inhibitors with azacitidine could improve treatment in these cancer types.
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Cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase (PDE) enzymes catalyze the breakdown of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP), which act as intracellular second messengers for signal transduction pathways and modulate various processes in the central nervous system. Recent discoveries that mutations in genes encoding different PDEs, including PDE10A, are responsible for rare forms of chorea in children led to the recognition of an emerging role of PDEs in the field of pediatric movement disorders. A comprehensive literature review of all reported cases of PDE10A mutations in PubMed and Web of Science was performed in English.

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Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are essential mediators of tolerance mitigating aberrant immune responses. While naturally occurring Treg (nTreg) development and function are directed by epigenetic events, induced Treg (iTreg) identity and mechanisms of action remain elusive. Mirroring the epigenetic circuits of nTregs, we and others have used hypomethylation agents (HAs) to convert T cells into iTregs (HA-iTregs) and further showed that the suppressive properties of the HA-iTregs are predominantly confined in an emergent population, which expresses the immunomodulatory molecule HLA-G, consequently providing a surface marker for isolation of the suppressive HA-iTreg compartment (G cells).

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Microbiota and the metabolites they produce within the large intestine interact with the host epithelia under the influence of a range of host-derived metabolic, immune, and homeostatic factors. This complex host-microbe interaction affects intestinal tumorigenesis, but established microbial or metabolite profiles predicting colorectal cancer (CRC) risk are missing. Here, we aimed to identify fecal bacteria, volatile organic compounds (VOC), and their associations that distinguish healthy (non-adenoma, NA) from CRC prone (high-risk adenoma, HRA) individuals.

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Cancer recurrence and metastasis, following successful treatment, constitutes a critical threat in clinical oncology and are the leading causes of death amongst cancer patients. This phenomenon is largely attributed to metastatic tumor dormancy, a rate-limiting stage during cancer progression, in which disseminated cancer cells remain in a viable, yet not proliferating state for a prolonged period. Dormant cancer cells are characterized by their entry into cell cycle arrest and survival in a quiescence state to adapt to their new microenvironment through the acquisition of mutations and epigenetic modifications, rendering them resistant to anti-cancer treatment and immune surveillance.

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