Therapeutic Effects of Novel Sphingosine-1-Phosphate Receptor Agonist W-061 in Murine DSS Colitis

Although IL-17 is a pro-inflammatory cytokine reportedly involved in various autoimmune inflammatory disorders, its role remains unclear in murine models of colitis. Acute colitis was induced by 2.5% dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) treatment for 5 days. A novel sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor agonist W-061, a prototype of ONO-4641, was orally administered daily, and histopathological analysis was performed on the colon. The number of lymphocytes and their cytokine production were also evaluated in spleen, mesenteric lymph node, Peyer's patch and lamina propria of the colon. Daily administration of W-061 resulted in improvement of DSS-induced colitis, and significantly reduced the number of CD4+ T cells in the colonic lamina propria. Numbers of both Th17 and Th1 cells were reduced by W-061 treatment. W-061, however, had no influence on the number of Treg cells in lamina propria. Thus, Th17 and Th1 cells in lamina propria were thought to be the key subsets in the pathogenesis of DSS-induced colitis. In conclusion, W-061 may be a novel therapeutic strategy to ameliorate acute aggravation of inflammatory bowel diseases

Laparoscopic Bladder-Preserving Surgery for Enterovesical Fistula Complicated with Benign Gastrointestinal Disease

Enterovesical fistula (EVF) is a relatively uncommon condition that is associated with severe morbidity. Minimally invasive and organ-preserving surgery should be performed in the case of EVF caused by benign diseases. We applied laparoscopic bladder-preserving surgery (LBPS) for EVF caused by benign gastrointestinal disease. Here, we report a surgical technique for LBPS. Patient and instrument port positioning are similar to those used in laparoscopic colorectal surgery. Dissection around the fistula is performed along the intestine as distant from the bladder as possible. If there is sufficient area around the intestinal portion of the fistula, it is isolated and resected using a linear stapler. If this approach is not possible, the intestinal fistula is sharply dissected as far away from the bladder as possible. LBPS for EVF was performed in 4 patients and included 3 direct sharp dissections and 1 stapling dissection. Three of the 4 patients did not require any further treatment for the bladder, and all procedures were feasibly accomplished under laparoscopic conditions. In conclusion, LBPS is feasible in cases of EVF caused by benign gastrointestinal disease, and we suggest that it should be the first choice of intervention in such cases

A four-dimensional organoid system to visualize cancer cell vascular invasion

Yanagisawa, K.; Konno, M.; Liu, H.; Irie, S.; Mizushima, T.; Mori, M.; Doki, Y.; Eguchi, H.; Matsusaki, M.; Ishii, H. A Four-Dimensional Organoid System to Visualize Cancer Cell Vascular Invasion. Biology 2020, 9, 361

Convolutional neural network can recognize drug resistance of single cancer cells

It is known that single or isolated tumor cells enter cancer patients' circulatory systems. These circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are thought to be an effective tool for diagnosing cancer malignancy. However, handling CTC samples and evaluating CTC sequence analysis results are challenging. Recently, the convolutional neural network (CNN) model, a type of deep learning model, has been increasingly adopted for medical image analyses. However, it is controversial whether cell characteristics can be identified at the single-cell level by using machine learning methods. This study intends to verify whether an AI system could classify the sensitivity of anticancer drugs, based on cell morphology during culture. We constructed a CNN based on the VGG16 model that could predict the efficiency of antitumor drugs at the single-cell level. The machine learning revealed that our model could identify the effects of antitumor drugs with ~0.80 accuracies. Our results show that, in the future, realizing precision medicine to identify effective antitumor drugs for individual patients may be possible by extracting CTCs from blood and performing classification by using an AI system

Narrow-band imaging with magnifying endoscopy for Peyer's patches is useful in predicting the recurrence of remissive patients with ulcerative colitis

Background/AimsPeyer's patches (PPs) are aggregates of lymphoid follicles that are mainly located in the distal ileum; they play a major role in mucosal immunity. We recently reported that patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) have alterations in PPs that can be detected using narrow-band imaging with magnifying endoscopy (NBI-ME). However, the usefulness of NBI-ME in UC treatment as a whole is still unknown.MethodsWe collected NBI-ME images of PPs from 67 UC patients who had undergone ileocolonoscopy. We evaluated changes in the villi using the "villi index," which is based on three categories: irregular formation, hyperemia, and altered vascular network pattern. The patients were divided into two groups on the basis of villi index: low (L)- and high (H)-types. We then determined the correlation between morphological alteration of the PPs and various clinical characteristics. In 52 patients who were in clinical remission, we also analyzed the correlation between NBI-ME findings of PPs and clinical recurrence.ResultsThe time to clinical recurrence was significantly shorter in remissive UC patients with H-type PPs than in those with L-type PPs (P<0.01). Moreover, PP alterations were not correlated with age, sex, disease duration, clinical activity, endoscopic score, or extent of disease involvement. Multivariate analysis revealed that the existence of H-type PPs was an independent risk factor for clinical recurrence (hazard ratio, 3.3; P<0.01).ConclusionsUC patients with morphological alterations in PPs were at high risk of clinical relapse. Therefore, to predict the clinical course of UC, it may be useful to evaluate NBI-ME images of PPs

Intraluminal migration of a spacer with small bowel obstruction: a case report of rare complication

The spacer placement is a prevalent procedure to separate the surrounding normal tissues from locally recurrent rectal tumor before the application of radiotherapy. However, complications could occur due to the foreign nature of the spacer. This report describes a case of 60-year-old man who had undergone radiotherapy two years earlier for a recurrent rectal tumor and presented with small bowel obstruction. A spacer was used before radiotherapy. Radiological assessment and laparotomy revealed the presence of the spacer inside the small bowel lumen. It is possible that the spacer established contact with the intestine, elicited local inflammatory reaction that facilitated the complete penetration of the intestinal wall without causing any clinical symptoms