The Impact of EndoVAC in Addressing Post-Esophagectomy Anastomotic Leak in Esophageal Cancer Management.

Anastomotic leakage (AL) remains a major complication after esophagectomy, especially in patients with esophagogastric cancers who have undergone neoadjuvant therapies, which can impair tissue healing. Endoscopic vacuum-assisted closure (EndoVAC) is an innovative approach aimed at managing AL by facilitating wound drainage, reducing infection, and promoting granulation tissue formation, thus supporting effective healing. This review explores the role and effectiveness of EndoVAC in treating AL post-esophagectomy in esophageal cancer patients.

HERACLIS-HDV cohort for the factors of underdiagnosis and prevalence of hepatitis D virus infection in HBsAg-positive patients.

Background And Aims: Hepatitis D virus (HDV) underdiagnosis remains common. We assessed the HDV screening and prevalence rates in HBsAg-positive patients seen at tertiary liver centres throughout Greece as well as factors affecting HDV diagnosis.

Methods: All adult HBsAg-positive patients seen within the last 5 years were included.

Frequency, Private Specificity, and Cross-Reactivity of Preexisting Hepatitis C Virus (HCV)-Specific CD8+ T Cells in HCV-Seronegative Individuals: Implications for Vaccine Responses.

Unlabelled: T cell responses play a critical role in controlling or clearing viruses. Therefore, strategies to prevent or treat infections include boosting T cell responses. T cells specific for various pathogens have been reported in unexposed individuals and an influence of such cells on the response toward vaccines is conceivable.

Comprehensive phenotyping of regulatory T cells after liver transplantation.

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) play an important role in controlling alloreactivity after solid organ transplantation, but they may also impair antiviral immunity. We hypothesized that the Treg frequency and the Treg phenotype are altered in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected recipients of liver transplantation (LT) with possible prognostic implications. Tregs from 141 individuals, including healthy individuals, LT recipients with or without persistent HCV infections, and nontransplant patients with chronic HCV, were studied.

Hepatitis E virus (HEV)-specific T-cell responses are associated with control of HEV infection.

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is usually self-limited but may lead to acute hepatitis and rarely to fulminant hepatic failure. Persistent HEV infections have recently been described in organ transplant recipients receiving immunosuppressive medications, suggesting that HEV is controlled by adaptive immune responses. However, only few studies have investigated HEV-specific T-cell responses and immune correlates for the failure to clear HEV infection have not been established so far.

Interferon-alpha-induced TRAIL on natural killer cells is associated with control of hepatitis C virus infection.

Background & Aims: Pegylated interferon-alpha (PEG-IFNalpha), in combination with ribavirin, controls hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in approximately 50% of patients by mechanisms that are not completely understood. Beside a direct antiviral effect, different immunomodulatory effects have been discussed. Natural killer (NK) cells might be associated with control of HCV infection.

Intrahepatic long-term persistence of parvovirus B19 and its role in chronic viral hepatitis.

Parvovirus B19 (B19V) has been detected in the liver of Asian patients infected with HBV and may contribute to acute and chronic liver disease. This study aimed to investigate the impact of B19V infection in European patients with viral hepatitis. B19V DNA was detected in 1/91 and 0/50 serum samples from patients with chronic hepatitis C and B, respectively.

Effect of peptide pools on effector functions of antigen-specific CD8+ T cells.

Peptide pools are routinely used to study antigen specific T cell responses, both in epitope discovery as well as immune monitoring. However, optimal assay conditions such as concentration of peptides or the best possible number of peptides per pool have not been defined. Thus, we examined whether different peptide concentrations or varying number of peptides per pool influence effector functions of antigen-specific human T-cells.

Persistence of occult hepatitis B after removal of the hepatitis B virus-infected liver.

Occult hepatitis B is defined as the persistence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA in persons without HBV surface antigen (HBsAg). The primary site for HBV persistence in persons with occult hepatitis B is considered to be the liver. We provide virological and immunological evidence for long-term persistence of HBV, even after removal of the infected liver, in 25 consecutive, randomly selected liver transplant recipients who tested positive for anti-HBV core antigen (anti-HBcAg) and negative for HBsAg at the time of transplantation.