Gastrointestinal and Hepatobiliary Research Programme

The Gastrointestinal (GI) team has two main areas of focus: oncology and non-neoplastic diseases.

In GI oncology, there is ongoing research in gastric, pancreatobiliary, liver and colorectal cancers. The team collaborates with scientists in SingHealth and A*Star in the discovery of prognostic and predictive markers. Molecular profiling of both gastric and pancreatobiliary tumours has produced distinctive discoveries in local and regional patients.

In the area of non-neoplastic diseases, the team works closely with hepatologists in liver cirrhosis studies, fatty liver disease and hepatitis. There are ongoing collaborations with Histoindex® in liver fibrosis and steatosis scoring using an advanced tissue imaging system.

Other research interests of the team include Hirschsprung’s disease assessment and gastric dysplasia interpretation.

Reference:

1. Chia NY, Deng N, Das K, Huang D, Hu L, Zhu Y, Lim KH, Lee MH, Wu J, Sam XX, Tan GS, Wan WK, Yu W, Gan A, Tan AL, Tay ST, Soo KC, Wong WK, Dominguez LT, Ng HH, Rozen S, Goh LK, Teh BT, Tan P. Regulatory crosstalk between lineage-survival oncogenes KLF5, GATA4 and GATA6 cooperatively promotes gastric cancer development. Gut. 2015 May;64(5):707-19.


2. Zhou J, Yong WP, Yap CS, Vijayaraghavan A, Sinha RA, Singh BK, Xiu S, Manesh S, Ngo A, Lim A, Ang C, Xie C, Wong FY, Lin SJ, Wan WK, Tan IB, Flotow H, Tan P,  Lim KH, Yen PM, Goh LK. An integrative approach identified genes associated with drug response in gastric cancer. Carcinogenesis. 2015 Apr;36(4):441-51.


3. Wong GW, Lim KH, Wan WK, Low SC, Kong SC. Eosinophilic gastroenteritis: Clinical profiles and treatment outcomes, a retrospective study of 18 adult patients in a Singapore Tertiary Hospital. Med J Malaysia. 2015 Aug;70(4):232-7.


4. Tan IB, Malik S, Ramnarayanan K, McPherson JR, Ho DL, Suzuki Y, Ng SB, Yan S,  Lim KH, Koh D, Hoe CM, Chan CY, Ten R, Goh BK, Chung AY, Tan J, Chan CX, Tay ST, Alexander L, Nagarajan N, Hillmer AM, Tang CL, Chua C, Teh BT, Rozen S, Tan P. High-depth sequencing of over 750 genes supports linear progression of primary tumors and metastases in most patients with liver-limited metastatic colorectal cancer. Genome Biol. 2015 Feb 12;16(1):32.


5. Ang SF, Ng ES, Li H, Ong YH, Choo SP, Ngeow J, Toh HC, Lim KH, Yap HY, Tan CK, Ooi LL, Chung AY, Chow PK, Foo KF, Tan MH, Cheow PC. The Singapore Liver Cancer Recurrence (SLICER) Score for Relapse Prediction in Patients with Surgically Resected Hepatocellular Carcinoma. PLoS One. 2015 Apr 1;10(4):e0118658. JIF (2013): 3.534


6. Das K, Gunasegaran B, Tan IB, Deng N, Lim KH, Tan P. Mutually exclusive FGFR2, HER2, and KRAS gene amplifications in gastric cancer revealed by multicolour FISH. Cancer Lett. 2014 Oct 28;353(2):167-75.


7. Chan-On W, Nairismägi ML, Ong CK, Lim WK, Dima S, Pairojkul C, Lim KH, McPherson JR, Cutcutache I, Heng HL, Ooi L, Chung A, Chow P, Cheow PC, Lee SY, Choo SP, Tan IB, Duda D, Nastase A, Myint SS, Wong BH, Gan A, Rajasegaran V, Ng CC, Nagarajan S, Jusakul A, Zhang S, Vohra P, Yu W, Huang D, Sithithaworn P, Yongvanit P, Wongkham S, Khuntikeo N, Bhudhisawasdi V, Popescu I, Rozen SG, Tan P, Teh BT. Exome sequencing identifies distinct mutational patterns in liver fluke-related and non-infection-related bile duct cancers. Nat Genet. 2013 Dec;45(12):1474-8.