Publications by authors named "Takaaki Hirotsu"

Objective: Early detection of recurrent gastric and esophageal cancers remains a critical challenge. Innovative and non-invasive cancer screening technologies, such as N-NOSE, can improve early detection. N-NOSE is a urine-based scent test that leverages the olfactory abilities of the nematode C.

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Cervical cancer screening is a critical public health measure, especially vital for underserved communities where disparities in access and outcomes are pronounced. Despite the life-saving potential of regular screening, numerous barriers-including geographical isolation, cultural and linguistic challenges, and socioeconomic factors-severely hinder accessibility for these populations. Multicancer early detection (MCED) tests emerge as a potentially effective intervention, offering a less invasive, more accessible approach that could transform how screenings are conducted.

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Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, surpassed only by cardiovascular diseases. Early identification and intervention can significantly improve outcomes. However, finding a universal, non-invasive, economical, and precise method for early cancer detection remains a significant challenge.

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Gastrointestinal cancers, which include a variety of esophageal and colorectal malignancies, present a global health challenge and require effective treatment strategies. In the evolving field of cancer immunotherapy, tissue-resident memory T cells (Trm cells) have emerged as important players in the immune response within nonlymphoid tissues. In this review, we summarize the characteristics and functions of Trm cells and discuss their profound implications for patient outcomes in gastrointestinal cancers.

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Early cancer detection is key to improving patient survival and quality of life and reducing cancer treatments' financial burden [...

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The pancreas is a vital organ with exocrine and endocrine functions. Pancreatitis is an inflammation of the pancreas caused by alcohol consumption and gallstones. This condition can heighten the risk of pancreatic cancer (PC), a challenging disease with a high mortality rate.

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Background: The nematode () possesses a sophisticated sense of smell and is used for a novel cancer screening test that utilizes the chemotaxis index. We designed a single-institution, prospective study to confirm the ability of Nematode Nose (N-NOSE) to determine preoperative chemotherapy's efficacy for esophageal cancer patients.

Patients And Methods: We investigated the predictability of N-NOSE screening for the clinical effects of preoperative chemotherapy for esophageal cancer patients receiving radical surgery.

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Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is caused by genetic mutations in four genes: KRAS proto-oncogene and GTPase (), tumor protein P53 (), cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 2A (), and mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 4 (), also called the big 4. The changes in tumors are very complex, making their characterization in the early stages challenging. Therefore, the development of innovative therapeutic approaches is desirable.

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Regular cancer screening is critical for early cancer detection. Cancer screening tends to be burdensome, invasive, and expensive, especially for a comprehensive multi-organ check. Improving the rate and effectiveness of routine cancer screenings remain a challenge in health care.

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Cancer is the leading cause of death in dogs and cats. Early diagnosis of cancer is critical for effective treatment and improving survival rates. Nematode-NOSE (N-NOSE) is a commercially available non-invasive human cancer screening test that uses the sense of smell of the nematode showing a distinct chemotactic response toward the urine of an individual with cancer compared to healthy ones.

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Nematodes, such as , have been instrumental to the study of cancer. Recently, their significance as powerful cancer biodiagnostic tools has emerged, but also for mechanism analysis and drug discovery. It is expected that nematode-applied technology will facilitate research and development on the human tumor microenvironment.

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Although early detection and diagnosis are indispensable for improving the prognosis of patients with pancreatic cancer, both have yet to be achieved. Except for pancreatic cancer, other cancers have already been screened through scent tests using animals or microorganisms, including . While such a method may greatly improve the prognosis of pancreatic cancer, no studies have investigated the same, mainly given the difficulty of collecting suitable samples from patients with early-stage pancreatic cancer.

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One-carbon (1C) metabolism plays a key role in biological functions linked to the folate cycle. These include nucleotide synthesis; the methylation of DNA, RNA, and proteins in the methionine cycle; and transsulfuration to maintain the redox condition of cancer stem cells in the tumor microenvironment. Recent studies have indicated that small therapeutic compounds affect the mitochondrial folate cycle, epitranscriptome (RNA methylation), and reactive oxygen species reactions in cancer cells.

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Objectives: Early detection of pancreatic cancer is notoriously difficult. A novel cancer diagnostic method using the ability of nematodes to detect odor of urine samples has been developed (N-NOSE). This method has a high sensitivity and specificity for various cancers; however, it has not yet been verified in pancreatic cancer.

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Early cancer detection is critical for effective treatment. N-NOSE (Nematode-NOSE) is a simple, inexpensive, and highly sensitive cancer screening method based on the chemotaxis of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, which shows evasive action from the urine of healthy individuals while being attracted to the urine of cancer patients. Initially, N-NOSE relied on chemotaxis indexes obtained with 10-fold dilutions of urine samples.

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Exosomes (EXs), a type of extracellular vesicles secreted from various cells and especially cancer cells, mesenchymal cells, macrophages and other cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME), are involved in biologically malignant behaviors of cancers. Recent studies have revealed that EXs contain microRNAs on their inside and express proteins and glycolipids on their outsides, every component of which plays a role in the transmission of genetic and/or epigenetic information in cell-to-cell communications. It is also known that miRNAs are involved in the signal transduction.

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Since the 1980s, molecular biology has been used to investigate medical field mechanisms that still require the use of crude biological materials in order to achieve their necessary goals. Transcription factor-induced pluripotent stem cells are used in regenerative medicine to screen drugs and to support lost tissues. However, these cells insufficiently reconstruct whole organs and require various intact cells, such as damaged livers and diabetic pancreases.

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Since the infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was reported in China during December 2019, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread on a global scale, causing the World Health Organization (WHO) to issue a warning. While novel vaccines and drugs that target SARS-CoV-2 are under development, this review provides information on therapeutics which are under clinical trials or are proposed to antagonize SARS-CoV-2. Based on the information gained from the responses to other RNA coronaviruses, including the strains that cause severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-coronaviruses and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), drug repurposing might be a viable strategy.

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The technique used for cancer monitoring is essential for effective cancer therapy. Currently, several methods such as diagnostic imaging and biochemical markers have been used for cancer monitoring, but these are invasive and show low sensitivity. A previous study reported that sensitively discriminated patients with cancer from healthy subjects, based on the smell of a urine sample.

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Background/aim: Early detection of gastrointestinal cancer may reduce mortality. Recently, Caenorhabditis elegans has been reported to be capable of differentiating patients with cancers from healthy persons by the smell of urine. This novel technique using C.

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Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) exhibits a very early onset of metastasis. Thus, early detection and treatment are pivotal to successful eradication of pancreatic cancers. Economical and non-invasive cancer screening systems is indispensable for this purpose.

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Early detection and treatment are important for the successful eradication of various cancers; therefore, the development of economical, noninvasive novel cancer screening systems is critical. Previous reports using canine scent detection have demonstrated the existence of cancer-specific odors. However, it is difficult to introduce canine scent recognition into clinical practice because of the need to maintain accuracy.

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Cancer is the leading cause of death in Japan, and one in two people experience cancer in their lifetime. Early diagnosis of cancer is the most important for increasing survival rate of cancer, which is also expected to contribute to decrease budget impact of cancer, but participation rate of cancer screening is still low in Japan. Currently, people need to take multiple examinations to detect different types of cancer, which increases the cost, time and pain burdens for the examinees.

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The nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans, in which loss-of-function mutants and RNA interference (RNAi) models are available, is a model organism useful for analyzing effects of genes on various life phenomena. In particular, RNAi is a powerful tool that enables time- or cell-specific knockdown via heat shock-inducible RNAi or cell-specific RNAi. However, the conventional RNAi methods are insufficient for investigating pleiotropic genes with various sites of action and life stage-dependent functions.

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