Single cell analysis of Crohn's disease patient-derived small intestinal organoids reveals disease activity-dependent modification of stem cell properties.

BACKGROUND: Intestinal stem cells (ISCs) play indispensable roles in the maintenance of homeostasis, and also in the regeneration of the damaged intestinal epithelia. However, whether the inflammatory environment of Crohn's disease (CD) affects properties of resident small intestinal stem cells remain uncertain. METHODS: CD patient-derived small intestinal organoids were established from enteroscopic biopsy specimens taken from active lesions (aCD-SIO), or from mucosa under remission (rCD-SIO). Expression of ISC-marker genes in those organoids was examined by immunohistochemistry, and also by microfluid-based single-cell multiplex gene expression analysis. The ISC-specific function of organoid cells was evaluated using a single-cell organoid reformation assay. RESULTS: ISC-marker genes, OLFM4 and SLC12A2, were expressed by an increased number of small intestinal epithelial cells in the active lesion of CD. aCD-SIOs, rCD-SIOs or those of non-IBD controls (NI-SIOs) were successfully established from 9 patients. Immunohistochemistry showed a comparable level of OLFM4 and SLC12A2 expression in all organoids. Single-cell gene expression data of 12 ISC-markers were acquired from a total of 1215 cells. t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding analysis identified clusters of candidate ISCs, and also revealed a distinct expression pattern of SMOC2 and LGR5 in ISC-cluster classified cells derived from aCD-SIOs. Single-cell organoid reformation assays showed significantly higher reformation efficiency by the cells of the aCD-SIOs compared with that of cells from NI-SIOs. CONCLUSIONS: aCD-SIOs harbor ISCs with modified marker expression profiles, and also with high organoid reformation ability. Results suggest modification of small intestinal stem cell properties by unidentified factors in the inflammatory environment of CD.

Novel Pretreatment Scoring Incorporating C-reactive Protein to Predict Overall Survival in Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma with Sorafenib Treatment.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to build a prediction score of prognosis for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after sorafenib treatment. METHODS: A total of 165 patients with advanced HCC who were treated with sorafenib were analyzed. Readily available baseline factors were used to establish a scoring system for the prediction of survival. RESULTS: The median survival time (MST) was 14.2 months. The independent prognostic factors were C-reactive protein (CRP) <1.0 mg/dL [hazard ratio (HR) =0.51], albumin >3.5 g/dL (HR =0.55), alpha-fetoprotein <200 ng/mL (HR =0.45), and a lack of major vascular invasion (HR =0.39). Each of these factors had a score of 1, and after classifying the patients into five groups, the total scores ranged from 0 to 4. Higher scores were linked to significantly longer survival (p<0.0001). Twenty-nine patients (17.6%) with a score of 4 had a MST as long as 36.5 months, whereas MST was as short as 2.4 and 3.7 months for seven (4.2%) and 22 (13.3%) patients with scores of 0 and 1, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: A novel prognostic scoring system, which includes the CRP level, has the ability to stratify the prognosis of patients with advanced stage HCC after treatment with sorafenib.

Correction: Elastin Fiber Accumulation in Liver Correlates with the Development of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0154558.].

Elastin Fiber Accumulation in Liver Correlates with the Development of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: The fibrosis stage, which is evaluated by the distribution pattern of collagen fibers, is a major predictor for the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) for patients with hepatitis C. Meanwhile, the role of elastin fibers has not yet been elucidated. The present study was conducted to determine the significance of quantifying both collagen and elastin fibers. METHODS: We enrolled 189 consecutive patients with hepatitis C and advanced fibrosis. Using Elastica van Gieson-stained whole-slide images of pretreatment liver biopsies, collagen and elastin fibers were evaluated pixel by pixel (0.46 µm/pixel) using an automated computational method. Consequently, fiber amount and cumulative incidences of HCC within 3 years were analyzed. RESULTS: There was a significant correlation between collagen and elastin fibers, whereas variation in elastin fiber was greater than in collagen fiber. Both collagen fiber (p = 0.008) and elastin fiber (p < 0.001) were significantly correlated with F stage. In total, 30 patients developed HCC during follow-up. Patients who have higher elastin fiber (p = 0.002) in addition to higher collagen fiber (p = 0.05) showed significantly higher incidences of HCC. With regard to elastin fiber, this difference remained significant in F3 patients. Furthermore, for patients with a higher collagen fiber amount, higher elastin was a significant predictor for HCC development (p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Computational analysis is a novel technique for quantification of fibers with the added value of conventional staging. Elastin fiber is a predictor for the development of HCC independently of collagen fiber and F stage.

Pretreatment Gastric Lavage Reduces Postoperative Bleeding after Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection for Gastric Neoplasms.

AIM: For patients receiving endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD), there is urgent need pertaining to the prevention of postoperative bleeding. We conducted a retrospective propensity score-matched study that evaluated whether pre-ESD gastric lavage prevents postoperative bleeding after ESD for gastric neoplasms. METHODS: From September 2002 to October 2015, the 760 consecutive patients receiving ESD for gastric neoplasm were enrolled and data regarding them were retrospectively analyzed. All patients received conventional preventive treatment against delayed bleeding after ESD, including the administration of proton pump inhibitor and preventive coagulation of visible vessels, at the end of the ESD procedure. RESULTS: Pre-ESD risk factors for postoperative bleeding included tumor size and no gastric lavage. Using multivariate analysis tumor size >2.0 cm (HR 2.90, 95% CI 1.65-5.10, p = 0.0002) and no gastric lavage (HR 3.20, 95% CI 1.13-9.11, p = 0.029) were found to be independent risk factors. Next, we evaluated the effect of gastric lavage on the prevention of post-ESD bleeding using a propensity score-matching method. A total of 284 subjects (142 per group) were selected. Adjusted odds ratio of gastric lavage for post-ESD bleeding was 0.25 (95% CI 0.071-0.886, p = 0.032). CONCLUSION: Pretreatment gastric lavage reduced postoperative bleeding in patients receiving ESD for gastric neoplasm.

Urinary excretion of the water channel aquaporin 2 correlated with the pharmacological effect of tolvaptan in cirrhotic patients with ascites.

BACKGROUND: The water channel aquaporin 2 (AQP2) at the apical membrane of renal collecting duct cells mediates water reabsorption. The expression of AQP2 at the apical membrane is tightly regulated by vasopressin and was quantitated by measurement of the urinary form by a recently developed ELISA. Tolvaptan, an antagonist of vasopressin type 2 receptor, inhibits water reabsorption in cirrhosis. The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between the pharmacological effect of tolvaptan and the dynamics of urinary AQP2 levels. METHODS: Tolvaptan was administered to 41 cirrhotic patients with ascites unresponsive to standard diuretic therapy. Urinary excretion of AQP2 and urinary osmolarity were measured at the baseline and at 4, 8, and 24 h after administration of tolvaptan. RESULTS: At the baseline, urinary AQP2/creatinine ratios were significantly higher in cirrhotic patients with ascites than in healthy controls (P < 0.0001). After administration of tolvaptan, urinary AQP2/creatinine ratios decreased by 45.0 % at 4 h and 77.0 % at 8 h. Similarly, urinary osmolarity decreased by 42.0 % at 4 h and 41.5 % at 8 h. Urinary AQP2 levels and urinary osmolarity significantly correlated at the baseline and at all time points after tolvaptan administration. The degree of the decrease in urinary AQP2 levels and degree of the decrease in urinary osmolarity correlated significantly at 4 h (r = 0.452, P = 0.009) and 8 h (r = 0.384, P = 0.030) after tolvaptan administration. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that the vasopressin-AQP2 system plays a major role in fluid retention in cirrhosis and that the pharmacological effect of tolvaptan to inhibit water reabsorption can be monitored by measurement of the dynamics of urinary AQP2 levels.