Publications by authors named "Yuki Tahata"
Background: The histological improvement in liver fibrosis in patients with hepatitis C who achieved a sustained virological response (SVR) to direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatment has not been comprehensively investigated. Therefore, we assessed the histological changes in liver fibrosis among patients with hepatitis C who underwent long-term follow-up after achieving SVR to treatment with DAA.
Methods: This retrospective study enrolled 71 patients with hepatitis C who achieved SVR to treatment with DAA.
Aim: The incidence of and factors involved in gastroesophageal varix-related events in hepatitis C virus-related cirrhosis patients, including decompensated cirrhosis, after direct-acting antiviral therapy are unclear.
Methods: We conducted a multicenter study using prospective data from 478 hepatitis C virus-related cirrhosis patients treated with direct-acting antiviral therapy from February 2019 to December 2021 at 33 Japanese hospitals. Gastroesophageal varices were classified as F1 (small-caliber), F2 (moderately enlarged), or F3 (markedly enlarged) according to the Japanese criteria.
Aim: Patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) remain at risk for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) even with nucleos(t)ide analog therapy. We evaluated risk factors for HCC development, including serum hepatitis B virus (HBV) RNA, hepatitis B core-related antigen level, and growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) level, a predictor of HCC development in patients with chronic hepatitis C.
Methods: We collected clinical data and stored serum from CHB patients without a history of HCC who were receiving nucleos(t)ide analog treatment for more than 1 year and whose HBV DNA level was less than 3.
Background: There is a need for novel noninvasive markers for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) to stratify patients at high risk for liver-related events including liver cancer and decompensation. In the present study, we used proteomic analysis of proteins in extracellular vesicles (EVs) to identify new biomarkers that change with fibrosis progression and can predict the development of liver-related events.
Methods: We analyzed serum EVs from 50 patients with MASLD assessed for liver fibrosis by biopsy and identified proteins that altered with advanced fibrosis.
Article Synopsis
- A recent study explored the use of serum growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF15) as a biomarker to identify high-risk patients with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) who need closer follow-up for liver cancer.
- Researchers analyzed GDF15 levels in over 500 MASLD patients and found that high levels were linked to increased liver cancer risk, regardless of fibrosis stage or standard risk indicators like the Fib-4 index.
- The findings suggest that GDF15 could be a convenient and effective indicator for determining which MASLD patients should undergo regular monitoring for liver cancer, thus potentially improving patient outcomes.
Obesity is a risk factor for pancreatic cancer development, partly due to the tissue environment of metabolic disorder-related inflammation. We aimed to detect a tissue environment marker triggered by obesity-related metabolic disorders related to pancreatic cancer progression. In murine experiments, Bl6/j mice fed a normal diet (ND) or a high-fat diet (HFD) were orthotopically injected with mPKC1, a murine-derived pancreatic cancer cell line.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- - This study evaluated the effectiveness and safety of atezolizumab plus bevacizumab in treating unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma in real-world settings, involving 222 patients from 19 hospitals.
- - The findings revealed an objective response rate of 22.0% and a median progression-free survival of 5.7 months, with certain factors (like younger age, more tumors, and macrovascular invasion) linked to shorter progression-free survival.
- - Despite a median overall survival not being reached, key risk factors for reduced survival included absence of hyperlipidemia, multiple intrahepatic tumors, macrovascular invasion, and elevated neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratios, with 36.0% of
Article Synopsis
- The study analyzed 206 patients with decompensated cirrhosis due to hepatitis C treated with direct-acting antivirals (DAA) from February 2019 to December 2021 in Japan.
- Patients were mostly older, with 76% classified as Child-Pugh class B (CP-B), and the survival rates were promising, with high 2- and 3-year liver transplantation (LT)-free survival rates.
- The research found that liver function, assessed at 12 weeks after DAA treatment, was a crucial predictor of prognosis, rather than the baseline liver function at the start of treatment.
Aim: Alterations in microbial composition of gut microbiota due to antibiotics (ATB) may lead to resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). This study aimed to assess the impact of ATB use on therapeutic response in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) receiving atezolizumab plus bevacizumab.
Methods: This study retrospectively analyzed 105 patients with HCC treated with atezolizumab plus bevacizumab as a primary systemic therapy from prospectively-registered, multicenter, cohorts.
We evaluated the value of secreted glycoprotein thrombospondin-2 (TSP-2) to predict hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) occurrence in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients after Hepatitis C virus (HCV) elimination by direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs). A total of 786 CHC patients without an HCC history who achieved a sustained virological response (SVR) with DAAs were randomly assigned 2:1, with 524 patients as the derivation cohort and 262 patients as the validation cohort. Serum TSP-2 levels at the end of treatment were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Patients with advanced fibrosis are at risk for developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) even after hepatitis C virus (HCV) elimination. We previously reported that serum fucosylated haptoglobin (Fuc-Hp) levels increase as the disease progresses from chronic hepatitis to cirrhosis and then HCC. However, it remains unclear whether serum Fuc-Hp levels can stratify the risk of HCC occurrence after a sustained virological response (SVR) is achieved with direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) in patients with advanced liver fibrosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aim: Liver function can be improved in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection who achieved sustained virologic response (SVR) with direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatment. However, to our knowledge, the impact of liver function improvement after SVR on prognosis has not been investigated.
Methods: A total of 716 patients with chronic HCV infection and compensated advanced liver fibrosis who began receiving DAA treatment between September 2014 and August 2018 in 25 Japanese hospitals and achieved SVR were enrolled.
Article Synopsis
- The study aimed to evaluate how direct-acting antiviral therapy affects the long-term health outcomes of patients with decompensated cirrhosis caused by hepatitis C virus.
- It compared 37 patients undergoing treatment with sofosbuvir and velpatasvir (SOF/VEL) to a historical control group of 65 untreated patients, focusing on rates of liver decompensation, hospitalization, and survival.
- Results showed that the treatment group had significantly fewer decompensated events and better survival rates over two years, but the risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was still high in both groups.
Article Synopsis
- Combination immunotherapy using anti-PD-L1 and anti-VEGF antibodies is the standard treatment for patients with unresectable HCC, but it doesn’t benefit all patients equally.
- A study involving 85 HCC patients showed that high levels of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in the blood correlate with poorer treatment responses and shorter survival outcomes.
- Specific mutations in ctDNA, particularly in the TERT gene, can indicate worse prognosis and may help doctors assess treatment effectiveness for patients receiving this therapy.
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) contain proteins, mRNAs, and microRNAs, and their cargos have emerged as novel diagnostic markers in various diseases. We aimed to discover novel and noninvasive biomarkers of liver fibrosis by proteomic analysis using serum EVs in patients with chronic hepatitis C. We performed shotgun proteomics using serum EVs isolated from 54 patients with histologically assessed liver fibrosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aim: The development of hepatocarcinogenesis after a sustained virological response (SVR) remains an important issue affecting the balance between treatment and occupational life of workers with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in Japan. Here, we aimed to evaluate the hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) reducing effect and risk factors for developing HCC after SVR in patients treated with direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs) among the working population.
Methods: We studied 2579 working patients with chronic HCV infection who achieved SVR after antiviral treatment.
Aim: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after sustained virologic response (SVR) has been observed even in hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients without advanced liver fibrosis. Identifying predictors for HCC incidence in patients without advanced liver fibrosis will enable efficient post-SVR HCC surveillance. This study aimed to develop a scoring system to predict the incidence of HCC after SVR in HCV patients without advanced liver fibrosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- - Current treatments for hepatitis B virus (HBV) do not effectively remove its DNA form (cccDNA), but researchers are exploring the use of the CRISPR/Cas9 system to target and reduce cccDNA levels.
- - The study found that inhibiting DNA repair processes, particularly those handled by PARP2 and DNA Ligase 4, can enhance the effectiveness of CRISPR in reducing HBV replication markers in infected liver cells.
- - Additionally, using the PARP inhibitor olaparib further boosted the effectiveness of CRISPR by lowering levels of HBV-related RNA and cccDNA, highlighting a potential new combination therapy for HBV.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates the effects of balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration (BRTO) on esophageal varices (EVs) after treating gastric varices (GVs), as worsening of EVs has been observed post-treatment.
- Out of 258 patients treated with BRTO, 198 were evaluated, revealing that the risk of EV worsening increased over time, with significant predictors including sex, left gastric vein dilation, liver enzymes, albumin levels, and spleen size.
- The findings indicate that patients experiencing early deterioration of EVs within a year after BRTO face a notably poorer prognosis compared to those without worsening.
Article Synopsis
- A study compared the effectiveness of two cancer treatments, atezolizumab plus bevacizumab and lenvatinib, for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), involving 272 patients in total.
- After analyzing the data, the combination of atezolizumab and bevacizumab resulted in a significantly longer median progression-free survival (8.8 months) compared to lenvatinib (5.2 months), although overall survival rates were similar.
- Additionally, the atezolizumab plus bevacizumab group maintained better liver function and had fewer severe side effects than the lenvatinib group, suggesting it may be a preferable option for HCC treatment.*
Background: Intrahepatic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has a high recurrence rate after radiofrequency ablation (RFA). However, to date, no standalone predictive factors for intrahepatic distant recurrence after curative ablation have been reported.
Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate predictive factors for intrahepatic distant recurrence after curative treatment with RFA for HCCs.
Article Synopsis
- * Researchers looked at blood biomarkers to see if they could predict which patients would be nonresponders, finding that high levels of IL-6 and interferon alpha (IFNα) were significant predictors.
- * Patients with high IL-6 levels had worse outcomes, such as shorter progression-free survival and overall survival, making IL-6 a potential new prognostic biomarker for those receiving this therapy.
Article Synopsis
- Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) can develop as a complication in patients with Fontan-associated liver disease (FALD), but the specific risk factors are not well understood.
- A study analyzed 103 post-Fontan patients, finding that those who did not receive warfarin and those with situs inversus had significantly higher rates of HCC.
- The research concluded that absence of warfarin treatment and having situs inversus are key risk factors for developing HCC after the Fontan procedure.