Tokushima,tokushima, Japan

Predicting Local and Distant Recurrence in T1 Colorectal Cancer

The incidence of invasive submucosal colorectal cancer (T1 CRC) is increasing, likely as a reflection of improved screening and endoscopy use. Current treatment options for T1 CRC focus on less invasive methods (i.e., endoscopic submucosal dissection), and treatment decisions are based on the risk of lymph node metastasis (LNM). Up to 70-80% of T1 CRC patients may undergo surgery, with adjuvant chemotherapy recommended only for those with LNM. However, current clinical practice guidelines are considered to be overly aggressive and recommend the administration of aggressive treatment to many patients who may be cured with non-invasive therapy alone. This results in the overtreatment of many patients, especially those that are currently defined as 'high-risk' T1 CRC. Existing surveillance methods may not adequately predict the prognosis of T1 CRC, lacking established biomarkers for assessing disease-free survival. This study seeks to validate tissue-based biomarkers (micro-RNA and messenger RNA) that are associated with tumor recurrence after curative resection. The identification of patients at high risk of recurrence may help in the selection of patients who truly benefit from additional oncologic surgery or adjuvant therapy. Previous research by this group has identified miRNA signatures for detecting postoperative tumor recurrence and metastasis in CRC, highlighting their potential as biomarkers for disease progression.

An Exosome-Based Liquid Biopsy for the Differential Diagnosis of Primary Liver Cancer

Primary liver cancers (PLCs) encompass a diverse group of malignancies originating from the liver, collectively ranking as the third leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide in 2020. Among PLCs, intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represent the most predominant subtypes. Despite their collective grouping as PLCs, ICC and HCC patients exhibit distinct etiologies, pathologies, and clinical characteristics, necessitating different treatment approaches. Accurate differentiation between ICC and HCC is paramount to optimize patient outcomes and guide personalized treatment decisions. However, a definitive diagnosis is often obtained only after the pathological review of the resected neoplastic tissue, which requires invasive tumor sampling and poses risks of complications such as hemorrhage and tumor cell seeding. Consequently, there is a pressing clinical need to develop noninvasive diagnostic approaches to achieve an accurate differential diagnosis for patients with these distinct forms of PLCs. This study involves the development and validation of a liquid biopsy, assessing circulating exosomal microRNAs (exo-miRNA) for indirect sampling of tumor tissue in the bloodstream. The researchers intend to harness machine learning and bioinformatics to create a cost-efficient, non-invasive, clinic-friendly assay with high sensitivity and specificity, aiding the differential diagnosis between ICC and HCC. The researchers intend to do so in three phases: 1. To perform comprehensive small RNA-Seq from exo-miRNA from patients with ICC and HCC. 2. To develop and train a differential diagnosis panel based on advanced machine-learning models to obtain a final differential diagnosis biomarker. 3. To validate the findings in an independent cohort of ICC and HCC. In summary, this proposal promises to improve patient care and help clinicians perform a more reliable differential diagnosis between ICC and HCC in patients with primary liver cancer.

ARTEMIS - A Research Study to Look at How Ziltivekimab Works Compared to Placebo in People With a Heart Attack

A Multicenter Multinational Observational Study of Children With Hypochondroplasia

A Trial to Learn How Well Linvoseltamab Works Compared to the Combination of Elotuzumab, Pomalidomide and Dexamethasone for Adult Participants With Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma

Japan Post-Marketing Surveillance for Peficitinib to Assess Safety and Effectiveness in the Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis

This is a mandatory Post-Marketing Surveillance (PMS) requested by Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA) as a part of the Japan-Risk Management Plan (J-RMP).

A Study of Nipocalimab Administered to Adults With Generalized Myasthenia Gravis

Study to evaLuate the effIcacy and Safety of abeLacimab in High-risk Patients With Atrial Fibrillation Who Have Been Deemed Unsuitable for Oral antiCoagulation (LILAC-TIMI 76)

A Study to Investigate the Efficacy and Safety of Efgartigimod PH20 SC in Adult Participants With Active Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathy.

Early Treatment With a Sodium-glucose Co-transporter 2 Inhibitor in High-risk Patients With Acute Heart Failure