Phui-Ly Liew

Taipei Medical University | TMU · Department of Pathology

Objectives DNA methylation arrays and MethylCap-sequencing data of endometrial tissues from our previous study found that BHLHE22 gene promoter was hypermethylated in endometrial cancer (EC) and combine with CDO1 promoter hypermethylation had been approved by Taiwan FDA to detect EC in early stage using endocervical sample. BHLHE22 is literally a b...

Background Approximately 25% of patients with early-stage breast cancer experience cancer progression throughout the disease course. Alterations in TMEM240 in breast cancer were identified and investigated to monitor treatment response and disease progression. Methods Circulating methylated TMEM240 in the plasma of breast cancer patients was used...

Objective Although a large number of endometrial cancer patients are cured with surgery alone, there are significant numbers of patients with more aggressive variants of endometrial carcinoma for whom the prognosis remains poor. We investigated the effects of prevalence, histotypes, and immunohistochemical profiles on prognostic value in a hospital...

Endometrial cancer (EC) rates are rising annually. Additional prediction markers need to be evaluated because only 10–20% of EC cases show an objective response to immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Our previous methylomic study found that BHLHE22 is hypermethylated in EC tissues and can be detected using a Pap-smear sample. BHLHE22, a basic heli...

Adenomyosis is linked to dysmenorrhea and infertility. The pathogenesis of adenomyosis remains unclear, and little is known of the genetic and epigenetic changes in the eutopic endometrium in adenomyosis, which may predispose patients to the invasion and migration of endometrial tissues into the myometrium. Transcriptome studies have identified gen...

Gynecological cancer is a grave threat to women’s health. The human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the main risk of cervical cancer. The incidence and mortality of cervical cancer have gradually decreased since the clinical use of pap smears. However, the sensitivity of pap smears still varies with different screening equipment, which seriously...

Background: Approximately 25% of patients with early-stage breast cancer experience cancer progression throughout the disease course. Alterations in TMEM240 in breast cancer were identified and investigated to monitor treatment response and disease progression. Methods: Circulating methylated TMEM240 in the plasma of breast cancer patients was used...

Nerve growth factor (NGF) contributes to the progression of malignancy. However, the functional role and regulatory mechanisms of NGF in the development of neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC) are unclear. Here, we show that an androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT)-stimulated transcription factor, ZBTB46, upregulated NGF via ZBTB46 mediated-transcrip...

Background Patients with ovarian clear cell carcinoma (OCCC) have a poor prognosis because they show low sensitivity to platinum-based chemotherapy. New treatments for refractory OCCC are urgently needed. Case presentation We present a patient with refractory OCCC in whom conventional chemotherapy failed. Cachexia was induced by the disseminating...

Background: Gene silencing by aberrant DNA methylation of promoter regions remains the most dominant phenomenon occurring during tumorigenesis. Improving the early diagnosis, prognosis, and recurrence prediction of colorectal cancer using noninvasive aberrant DNA methylation biomarkers has encouraging potential. The aim of this study is to charact...

Background: Endometrial cancer is a common gynecologic cancer. Noninvasive molecular biomarkers for triage of high-risk patients for invasive procedures are needed. Based on the success of cytological Pap smear screening, cervical scrapings are a good source of DNA for molecular testing. In addition to genetic lesions, DNA methylation is a promisi...

As one of the deadliest and most common malignancies in the world, gastric cancer (GC) represents a serious health threat. Despite recent advances in the field, the prognosis of patients with metastatic GC remains poor. In this study, we aimed to investigate the clinical impact of the alpha subunit of the nuclear structural protein thymopoietin (TM...

Ovarian high‐grade serous carcinoma (HGSC) is the most lethal gynecological malignancy. Prevailing evidences suggest that drug resistance and recurrence of ovarian HGSC are caused by the presence of cancer stem cells. Therefore, targeting cancer stems is appealing, however, all attempts to date, have failed. To circumvent this limit, we analyzed di...

Precision medicine requires markers for therapeutic guidance. The purpose of this study was to determine whether epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) epigenetics can lead to the identification of biomarkers for precision medicine. Through integrative methylomics, we discovered and validated the epigenetic signature of NEFH and HS3ST2 as an independent p...

Mucinous type of epithelial ovarian cancer (MuOC) is a unique subtype with a poor survival outcome in recurrent and advanced stages. The role of type-specific epigenomics and its clinical significance remain uncertain. We analyzed the methylomic profiles of six benign mucinous adenomas, 24 MuOCs, 103 serous type of epithelial ovarian cancers (SeOCs...

Background/aim: High-mobility group AT-hook 2 (HMGA2) is an architectural transcription factor that is expressed in many human neoplasms. Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is one of the leading cancers in the world, particularly in Southeast Asia. In this study, the expression level of HMGA2 was determined on tissue microarray of OSCC and its co...

Background: Increased expression of DEF6 is correlated with the malignant behavior of various cancers. Both DEF6 and p16 contribute to the regulation of cell cycle progression, and p53 plays important role in the cell cycle checkpoints. This study was designed to elucidate the prognostic significance of DEF6, p53 and p16 immunoexpressions in diffe...

The aim of the present study was to report a rare case of single-clone, immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH)-rearranged mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma in the conjunctiva, with nasal cavity dissemination through the nasolacrimal duct. A 24-year-old female was diagnosed with MALT lymphoma of the nasal cavity at the Department of Otolar...

DNA topoisomerase I (TOP1) levels of several human neoplasms are higher than those of normal tissues. TOP1 inhibitors are widely used in treating conventional therapy-resistant ovarian cancers. However, patients may develop resistance to TOP1 inhibitors, hampering chemotherapy success. In this study, we examined the mechanisms associated with the d...

Despite considerable interest in the Nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)/Kelch-like ECH-associated protein-1 (Keap1), p16 and epithelial cadherin (E-cadherin) activation in carcinoma progression, contradictory results regarding association of Nrf2/Keap1/E-cadherin and p16 expression with clinico-pathological features and prognosis ha...

Background: Gastroenterology is a beneficial treatment of morbidly obese type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). We aimed to identify the predictors for the treatment of T2DM obese patients. Methods: A retrospective study consisting of 531 patients undergoing laparoscopic gastric banding (LGB), laparoscopic mini-gastric bypass (LMGB) and laparoscopic s...

Bariatric surgery is the only proven method that produces sustained weight loss. We aimed to investigate the Gastrointestinal Quality of Life Index (GIQLI) differences between obese patients following laparoscopic mini-gastric bypass (LMGB), laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) and laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) in this study. From...

Background/aims: Hepatic progenitor cells (HPCs) activation, proliferative ductular reaction (DR), replicative arrest and Notch signaling have been demonstrated in a variety of human liver diseases. The relationships are poorly understood in morbid obesity. We investigated factors responsible for the HPCs/DR, replicative arrest and Notch signaling...

Anemia is the most common nutritional deficiency after bariatric surgery. The predictors of anemia have not been clearly identified. This issue is useful for selecting an appropriate surgery procedure for morbid obesity. From December 2000 to October 2007, a retrospective study of 442 obese patients after bariatric surgery with two years' follow-up...

We reported two primary malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) cases (cases 1 and 2) strikingly simulating hepatocellular carcinoma with immunohistochemical (IHC) stains, and ultrastructural and K-ras mutation analysis. Cases 1 and 2 both included only men, aged 65 and 72 years, respectively. Case 1 presented with abdominal pain, fever, and bilateral...

Hepatosplenic abscess caused by Actinomyces is rare and often misdiagnosed as malignancy. Herein, we report a case of hepatosplenic actinomycosis in a 37-year-old immunocompetent man with a 2-month clinical history of intermittent fever and upper left abdominal pain. Physical examination revealed a mildly ill-appearing man with a low-grade fever (3...

Background: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with obesity. We retrospectively studied the clinicopathology and different hepatic adipocytokine expressions between nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and non-NASH in morbid obesity. Methods: We enrolled 40 patients undergoing liver biopsy during bariatric surgery. We analyzed...

Survivin is an antiapoptotic molecule that is widely expressed in cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Survivin has become a general therapeutic target for cancers because of its selective overexpression in a majority of tumors. However, little is known regarding the effect of survivin expression in combination with gemcitabine on HCC...

The effectiveness of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) in measuring the quality of life (QOL) and personality in obese patients has not been previously investigated. This study aims to investigate different clinical outcome variables, the relationships between quality of life and different personality one-year after LSG in obese patients. Sixty...

We investigated the role and turn around time of rapid staining and immediate interpretation of fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) for women with palpable breast lesions. A total of 408 FNAC specimens from 400 patients with palpable breast lesions was analyzed for immediate interpretation and preliminary cytologic diagnosis. All cytological dia...

Bariatric surgery is the only long-lasting effective treatment to reduce body weight in morbid obesity. Previous literature in using data mining techniques to predict weight loss in obese patients who have undergone bariatric surgery is limited. This study used initial evaluations before bariatric surgery and data mining techniques to predict weigh...

Compared with conventional pharmacological therapies, bariatric surgery has been shown to cause greater and- sustained weight loss. It was aimed to evaluate weight loss in obese patients after laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding surgery using information typically available during the initial evaluation studied before bariatric surgery and gene...

Actinomycetes are saprophytic bacteria of the oral cavity. They can cause a rare, chronic and suppurative reaction of the teeth and mandible, and then involve the cervical region. We present a case of salivary gland actinomycosis mimicking a neoplasm. The patient underwent surgical excision and pathology confirmed the diagnosis of actinomycosis. He...

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and gallbladder disease (GD) are members of metabolic syndrome in morbidly obesity. Insulin resistance is a risk factor for NASH and GD. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), liver fibrosis, NASH and GD in morbidly obese patients who presented with...

Surgery is the only long-lasting effective treatment for morbid obesity. Prediction on successful weight loss after surgery by data mining technologies is lacking. We analyze the available information during the initial evaluation of patients referred to bariatric surgery by data mining methods for predictors of successful weight loss. 249 patients...

Obesity is a risk factor for gallbladder disease. The authors retrospectively analyse the prevalence and risk factors of gallbladder disease using logistic regression and artificial neural networks among obese patients in Taiwan. Artificial neural networks is a popular technique, which can detect complex patterns within data. They have not been app...

Obesity is a risk factor for gallbladder disease. The authors analyze the prevalence and clinicopathology of gallbladder disease among obese patients in Taiwan. Prevalence and various clinical factors associated with cholelithiasis were studied in 199 patients who were undergoing bariatric surgery for obesity. Clinical data (gender, age, BMI and as...

There are few data relating to the role of fatty score (FS) and modified fatty score (MFS) in ultrasonographic (US) examination on the diagnosis of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) in patients undergoing bariatric surgery. We investigated consecutive patients undergoing laparoscopic bariatric surgery with biopsy-proven nonalcoholic fatty liver d...

Obesity is a chronic inflammatory condition, with related steatohepatitis and liver fibrosis. The authors analyzed the hepatic histopathology in morbidly obese patients and predictors of concurrence of clinical and/ or histopathologic findings of steatohepatitis with other forms of chronic liver disease. The histopathologic findings in the liver of...

Helicobacter pylori is a major pathogen of stomach. Ghrelin is secreted from the stomach, and it plays a role in the coordination of eating behavior, and facilitates fat storage and weight regulation. The effects of H. pylori infection on gastric ghrelin production are still not well known. Recent exciting studies linked H. pylori infection to ghre...

Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection is linked to weight control through gastric inflammation-induced deregulation of satiety-related hormone, and eradication of HP before a weight reduction operation has been advocated. We aimed to examine the impact of HP infection and corpus gastritis on preoperative patient characteristics, postoperative complica...