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CONTRIBUTION OF PROFESSOR DINA TINIAKOS TO A MULTI-CENTRE STUDY PUBLISHED IN THE LEADING SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL “NATURE”

Professor Dina Tiniakos, Director, Department of Pathology, Aretaieion Hospital, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens has contributed to a multi-centre study on hepatocellular carcinoma  (HCC) related to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) published in the scientific journal “Nature” on 24 March 2021, entitled  “NASH limits anti-tumour surveillance in immunotherapy-treated HCC” by Pfister D et al. Nature. 2021 Mar 24. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03362-0.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33762733/

The study was led by the groups of Prof. Mathias Heikenwalder, Division of Chronic Inflammation and Cancer, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany and Prof. Josep Llovet, Mount Sinai Liver Cancer Program, Icahn School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA and Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Barcelona, Spain. It was shown for the first time that NASH and NASH-related HCC have  dysfunctional activated CD8-PD1+ lymphocytes that limit the ability of check-point inhibitors to prevent or treat  HCC in experimental models. In human HCC, immunotherapy appears less effective in patients with HCC caused by NASH or alcohol compared to those that are viral-related. These results are expected to impact  treatment decisions in patients with non-viral related HCC.