Annual Report 2024
Division of Innovative Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (Tsukiji Campus)
Nobuyoshi Hiraoka, Kosei Nakajima, Utako Ishimoto, Sachiyo Hasegawa
Introduction
In the Division of Innovative Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, we develop and improve new evaluation methods to analyze the pathobiological and clinicopathological characteristics of useful molecules for clinical studies in EPOC projects.
Research Activities
The tumor immune microenvironment in intractable cancers, including pancreatic and biliary tract cancer, is studied clinicopathologically and pathobiologically. We investigated the tertiary lymphoid structures (TLSs) in pancreatic cancer tissues, examining their relationship with the tumor microenvironment and their quantitative and qualitative states. We obtained new insights into specific relationships between cell types constituting TLS and their interactions with the tumor microenvironment, along with new findings regarding their clinical and pathological significance. We reported that the large duct type (LDT) and the small duct type (SDT) of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA) exhibited distinct clinicopathological characteristics, including prognosis, based on our analysis of about 200 iCCA cases. We developed a novel immunohistochemical marker capable of distinguishing LDT and SDT with high sensitivity and specificity. This marker could distinguish subtypes of iCCA cases that were difficult to differentiate using existing markers.
Education
Teaching analytical techniques to technicians and researchers in several departments of the National Cancer Center was performed.
Future Prospects
We will answer the requests from the selected project in various types of studies, including basic, preclinical, and clinical studies, and assess the clinicopathological or pathobiological significance of the target molecules. We will develop methods of quantitative analysis to evaluate morphological findings that are currently analyzed qualitatively.
List of papers published in 2024
Journal
1. Murase Y, Esaki M, Mizui T, Takamoto T, Nara S, Ban D, Hiraoka N, Shimada K. Optimal lymph node dissection area for pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms by tumor location, size, and grade. Surgery, 180:109029, 2025
2. Komiyama S, Okusaka T, Maruki Y, Ohba A, Nagashio Y, Kondo S, Hijioka S, Morizane C, Ueno H, Sukeda A, Mizui T, Takamoto T, Nara S, Ban D, Esaki M, Hiraoka N, Shimada K. Clinicopathological Findings and Treatment Outcomes of Patients with Primary Hepatobiliary Neuroendocrine Neoplasms: A Retrospective Single-institution Analysis. Internal medicine (Tokyo, Japan), 63:891-901, 2024
3. Hirano K, Maruki Y, Yamashige D, Kobayashi O, Shiotsuka M, Morizane C, Imamura T, Hiraoka N, Okusaka T. Two Cases of Disseminated Alveolar Echinococcosis: The Diagnosis, Management, and Differential Considerations for Liver Lesions. Internal medicine (Tokyo, Japan), 63:1247-1252, 2024
4. Fukuda H, Arai K, Mizuno H, Nishito Y, Motoi N, Arai Y, Hiraoka N, Shibata T, Sonobe Y, Kayukawa Y, Hashimoto E, Takahashi M, Fujii E, Maruyama T, Kuwabara K, Nishizawa T, Mizoguchi Y, Yoshida Y, Watanabe SI, Yamashita M, Kitano S, Sakamoto H, Nagata Y, Mitsumori R, Ozaki K, Niida S, Kanai Y, Hirayama A, Soga T, Tsukada K, Yabuki N, Shimada M, Kitazawa T, Natori O, Sawada N, Kato A, Yoshida T, Yasuda K, Ochiai A, Tsunoda H, Aoki K. Molecular subtypes of lung adenocarcinoma present distinct immune tumor microenvironments. Cancer science, 115:1763-1777, 2024
5. Umino R, Nara S, Mizui T, Takamoto T, Ban D, Esaki M, Hiraoka N, Shimada K. Impact of Surgical Margin Status on Survival and Recurrence After Pancreaticoduodenectomy for Distal Cholangiocarcinoma: Is Microscopic Residual Tumor (R1) Associated with Higher Rates of Local Recurrence? Annals of surgical oncology, 31:4910-4921, 2024
6. Kawasaki Y, Hijioka S, Nagashio Y, Ohba A, Maruki Y, Takeshita K, Takasaki T, Agarie D, Hagiwara Y, Hara H, Okamoto K, Yamashige D, Kondo S, Morizane C, Ueno H, Mizui T, Takamoto T, Nara S, Ban D, Esaki M, Saito Y, Hiraoka N, Okusaka T. Diagnostic performance of EUS-guided tissue acquisition for solid pancreatic lesions ≦10 mm. Endoscopic ultrasound, 13:115-122, 2024
7. Ohba A, Morizane C, Kawamoto Y, Komatsu Y, Ueno M, Kobayashi S, Ikeda M, Sasaki M, Furuse J, Okano N, Hiraoka N, Yoshida H, Kuchiba A, Sadachi R, Nakamura K, Matsui N, Nakamura Y, Okamoto W, Yoshino T, Okusaka T. Trastuzumab Deruxtecan in Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2-Expressing Biliary Tract Cancer (HERB; NCCH1805): A Multicenter, Single-Arm, Phase II Trial. Journal of clinical oncology, 42:3207-3217, 2024
8. Fukuda S, Hijioka S, Nagashio Y, Yamashige D, Agarie D, Hagiwara Y, Okamoto K, Yagi S, Komori Y, Kuwada M, Maruki Y, Morizane C, Ueno H, Hiraoka N, Tsuchiya K, Okusaka T. Utility of Transpapillary Biopsy and Endoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Tissue Acquisition for Comprehensive Genome Profiling of Unresectable Biliary Tract Cancer. Cancers, 16:2819, 2024
9. Yamada Y, Nagashima K, Azuma M, Masutani M, Ichikawa H, Iwasa S, Takahashi N, Hirano H, Kanato K, Machida N, Kinoshita T, Hata H, Kawakami H, Takahari D, Boku N, Kurokawa Y, Terashima M, Yoshikawa T, Sekine S, Hiraoka N. Predictive and prognostic value of excision repair cross-complementing group 1 in patients with advanced gastric cancer. BJC reports, 2:18, 2024
10. Satake T, Morizane C, Okada M, Nishioka M, Hiraoka N, Nara S, Kakegawa T, Kobayashi M, Koyama K, Esaki M, Okusaka T. Prevalence of HER3 Expression in Pancreatic Cancer Patients Treated With Systemic Chemotherapy. Cancer medicine, 13:e70474, 2024