YUKI IMAOKA

Last Updated :2025/06/04

Affiliations, Positions
Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences(Medical), Assistant Professor (Special Appointment)
E-mail
yimaokahiroshima-u.ac.jp
Self-introduction
We conduct the basic and clinical research on cancer immunity and transplantation immunity among the hepato-biliary-pancreas/transplant surgery. The content is to elucidate the mechanism of the decline in liver-resident natural killer cell activity after hepatectomy and to develop a new treatment. I am also involved in research on regenerative medicine that uses immune cells after liver surgery and liver transplantation. In addition, we conduct to reveal the effects of lifestyle-related diseases such as arteriosclerosis, diabetes, and dyslipidemia on intrahepatic immunity.

Basic Information

Major Professional Backgrounds

  • 2022/08/20, Division of Abdominal Transplant, Stanford University School of Medicine, Visiting Assistant Professor
  • 2022/05/01, Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, Special appointment Assistant Professor
  • 2022/04/01, Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, Research Associate
  • 2021/04/01, Hiroshima University Hospital, Clinical Fellow
  • 2016/04/01, Innoshima Ishikai Hospital, Clinical Fellow
  • 2015/04/01, Department of Gastroenterological and Transplant Surgery, Hiroshima University, Clinical Fellow
  • 2012/04/01, Hiroshima Prefecture Hospital, Clinical Fellow
  • 2010/04/01, Kure Kyosai Hospital, Clinical trainee

Educational Backgrounds

  • Hiroshima University, 2004, 2010
  • Hiroshima University, Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, 2017, 2021

Academic Degrees

  • Hiroshima University

Educational Activity

Course in Charge

  1. 2025, Undergraduate Education, Intensive, Introduction to clinical clerkship

Research Activities

Academic Papers

  1. Effect of TIPS insertion on waitlist mortality and access to liver transplantation in Budd-Chiari syndrome., Liver transplantation : official publication of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the International Liver Transplantation Society, 31(2), 2025
  2. Survival benefit of liver transplantation utilizing marginal donor organ according to ABO blood type., Liver transplantation : official publication of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the International Liver Transplantation Society, 31(2), 2025
  3. Comment on "Age Matters: What Affects the Cumulative Lifespan of a Transplanted Liver?"., Annals of surgery open : perspectives of surgical history, education, and clinical approaches, 5(3), 2024
  4. Evaluation of prognostic efficacy of liver immune status index in predicting postoperative outcomes in hepatocellular carcinoma patients: A multi-institutional retrospective study., Journal of hepato-biliary-pancreatic sciences, 31(11), 2024
  5. Beyond 75: Graft Allocation and Organ Utility Implications in Liver Transplantation., Transplantation direct, 10(10), 2024
  6. Innovative Strategies for Liver Transplantation: The Role of Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Their Cell-Free Derivatives., Cells, 13(19), 2024
  7. Does the introduction of the acuity circle policy change split liver transplantation practice?, Liver transplantation : official publication of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the International Liver Transplantation Society, 2024
  8. Revisiting the Prognostic Influences of Donor-Recipient Size Mismatch in Deceased Donor Liver Transplantation., Transplantation direct, 10(11), 2024
  9. Abdominal aortic calcification among gastroenterological and transplant surgery., Annals of gastroenterological surgery, 8(6), 2024
  10. Improving Recurrence Prediction in Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma: The Synergistic Impact of the FIB-4 Index and Tumor Burden Score on Post-hepatectomy Outcomes., Annals of surgical oncology, 32(2), 2025
  11. Abdominal Aortic Calcification as a Predictor of Incomplete Adjuvant Chemotherapy in Stage III Colorectal Cancer: A Retrospective Cohort Study., Cureus, 16(10), 2024
  12. Analyzing the interaction between time to surgery and tumor burden score in hepatocellular carcinoma., Journal of gastrointestinal surgery : official journal of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, 29(2), 2025
  13. Hepatitis C-positive grafts for hepatitis C-negative recipients in liver transplantation: Buried treasure or depleting resource?, Liver transplantation : official publication of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the International Liver Transplantation Society, 2024
  14. The impact of sex and body mass index in liver transplantation for acute-on-chronic liver failure., Journal of hepato-biliary-pancreatic sciences, 2024
  15. Has Sex-Based Disparity in Liver Transplantation Opportunities and Waitlist Mortality Improved in the MELD3.0 Era?: A Preliminary Study., Clinical transplantation, 39(1), 2025
  16. Effect of abdominal aortic calcification on long-term outcomes after the first liver resection in very old patients with hepatocellular carcinoma., Annals of gastroenterological surgery, 9(1), 2025
  17. The steatosis-associated fibrosis estimator score is a useful indicator of recurrence and survival after initial curative hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma., Annals of gastroenterological surgery, 9(1), 2025
  18. A phase I/II study of adoptive immunotherapy using donor liver graft-derived NK cell-enriched immune cells to prevent severe infection after liver transplantation., PloS one, 20(1), 2025
  19. Effect of Abdominal Aortic Calcification on Recurrence Following Initial Hepatectomy for Colorectal Liver Metastases., Anticancer research, 44(2), 2024
  20. Association of Abdominal Aortic Calcification With the Postoperative Metabolic Syndrome Components After Liver Transplantation., Transplantation proceedings, 56(3), 2024
  21. Atherosclerosis Deteriorates Liver Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury Via Interferon Regulatory Factor-1 Overexpression in a Murine Model., Transplantation proceedings, 56(3), 2024
  22. Immunotherapy Using Activated Natural Killer Cells Improves Postoperative Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio and Long-Term Prognosis of Living Donor Liver Transplant Recipients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma., Transplantation proceedings, 56(3), 2024
  23. LightGBM outperforms other machine learning techniques in predicting graft failure after liver transplantation: Creation of a predictive model through large-scale analysis., Clinical transplantation, 38(4), 2024
  24. Donor Age Correlates With Liver-Resident Natural Killer Cell Activity in Adoptive Immunotherapy Using Donor Liver Natural Killer Cells in Liver Transplantation., Transplantation proceedings, 56(3), 2024
  25. Reply to comment on "Evaluation of prognostic efficacy of liver immune status index in predicting postoperative outcomes in hepatocellular carcinoma patients: A multi-institutional retrospective study"., Journal of hepato-biliary-pancreatic sciences, 32(1), 2025
  26. ASO Visual Abstract: Improving Recurrence Prediction in Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma-The Synergistic Impact of FIB-4 Index and Tumor Burden Score in Post-Hepatectomy Outcomes., Annals of surgical oncology, 32(2), 2025
  27. Cluster Analysis of HCC Prognosis Using Preoperative AFP and DCP Levels: A Multi-Institutional Study., Journal of gastrointestinal surgery : official journal of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, 2025
  28. Evaluating Predictors of Quality in Liver NK Cells Among Deceased Donors., Cell transplantation, 33, 2024
  29. Development and Validation of the ALBI-Gamma-Glutamyl Transferase Score for Enhanced Prognostic Accuracy After Hepatocellular Carcinoma Resection., Journal of gastrointestinal surgery : official journal of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, 2025
  30. Effect of sarcopenia on the survival of patients undergoing liver transplantation: a meta-analysis., Surgery today, 2025
  31. Impact of disparity between imaging and pathological tumor size on cancer-specific prognosis among patients with hepatocellular carcinoma., European journal of surgical oncology : the journal of the European Society of Surgical Oncology and the British Association of Surgical Oncology, 51(6), 2025
  32. Evaluation of prognostic efficacy of liver immune status index in predicting postoperative outcomes in hepatocellular carcinoma patients: A multi-institutional retrospective study, JOURNAL OF HEPATO-BILIARY-PANCREATIC SCIENCES, 31(11), 798-808, 2024
    Link to Paper Search Results by DOI
  33. Abdominal aortic calcification among gastroenterological and transplant surgery, ANNALS OF GASTROENTEROLOGICAL SURGERY, 8(6), 987-998, 2024
    Link to Paper Search Results by DOI
  34. Evaluating Predictors of Quality in Liver NK Cells Among Deceased Donors, CELL TRANSPLANTATION, 33, 2024
    Link to Paper Search Results by DOI
  35. Acute portal hypertension using portal vein ligation abrogates TRAIL expression of liver-resident NK cells, HEPATOLOGY COMMUNICATIONS, 6(9), 2551-2564, 2022
    Link to Paper Search Results by DOI
  36. Adoptive immunotherapy with natural killer cells from peripheral blood CD34(+) stem cells to prevent hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence after curative hepatectomy: a study protocol for an open-label, single-arm phase I study, BMJ OPEN, 12(11), 2022
    Link to Paper Search Results by DOI
  37. Adrenal failure due to bilateral adrenal metastasis of rectal cancer: A case report., International journal of surgery case reports, 31, 2017
  38. Adoptive immunotherapy overcomes genetic susceptibility to bloodstream infections due to fc-gamma receptor polymorphisms after liver transplantation., American journal of transplantation : official journal of the American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, 2022
  39. An updated analysis of retransplantation following living donor liver transplantation in the United States: Insights from the latest UNOS database., Liver transplantation : official publication of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the International Liver Transplantation Society, 2024
  40. Arteriosclerosis Decreases Tumor Necrosis Factor-Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand Expression on Liver Natural Killer Cells in Living Donor Liver Transplantation., Transplant Proc., 55(4), 906-912, 2023
  41. Association of Abdominal Aortic Calcification With the Postoperative Metabolic Syndrome Components After Liver Transplantation, TRANSPLANTATION PROCEEDINGS, 56(3), 581-587, 2024
    Link to Paper Search Results by DOI
  42. Atherosclerosis Deteriorates Liver Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury Via Interferon Regulatory Factor-1 Overexpression in a Murine Model, TRANSPLANTATION PROCEEDINGS, 56(3), 678-685, 2024
    Link to Paper Search Results by DOI
  43. Breaking distance barriers in liver transplantation: Risk factors and outcomes of long-distance liver grafts, SURGERY, 175(2), 513-521, 2024
    Link to Paper Search Results by DOI
  44. Breaking distance barriers in liver transplantation: Risk factors and outcomes of long-distance liver grafts., Surgery, 175(2), 2024
  45. Clinical significance of advanced lung cancer inflammation index, a nutritional and inflammation index, in gastric cancer patients after surgical resection: A propensity score matching analysis., Clinical nutrition (Edinburgh, Scotland), 40(3), 2021
  46. Correction: Surgery‑related disseminated intravascular coagulation predicts postoperative complications., BMC surgery, 23(1), 2023
  47. Decreased Utilization Rate of Grafts for Liver Transplantation After Implementation of Acuity Circle-based Allocation., Transplantation, 108(2), 2024
  48. Donor Age Correlates With Liver-Resident Natural Killer Cell Activity in Adoptive Immunotherapy Using Donor Liver Natural Killer Cells in Liver Transplantation, TRANSPLANTATION PROCEEDINGS, 56(3), 667-671, 2024
    Link to Paper Search Results by DOI
  49. Effect of Abdominal Aortic Calcification on Recurrence Following Initial Hepatectomy for Colorectal Liver Metastases, ANTICANCER RESEARCH, 44(2), 649-658, 2024
    Link to Paper Search Results by DOI
  50. Effect of abdominal aortic calcification on the prognosis and recurrence of colorectal cancer stages II-III: A retrospective cohort study, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COLORECTAL DISEASE, 38(1), 2023
    Link to Paper Search Results by DOI
  51. Effectiveness of Thermal Barrier Bag for Prolonged Vascular Anastomosis in Kidney Transplantation., Transplant Proc, 55(4), 752-755, 2023
  52. Elective laparoscopic deroofing to treat the spontaneous rupture of a large simple liver cyst: a case report., Surgical case reports, 2(1), 2016
  53. Enhancing the usability of older DCD donors through strategic approaches in liver transplantation in the United States., Liver transplantation : official publication of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the International Liver Transplantation Society, 2024
  54. Evaluating the outcomes of donor-recipient age differences in young adults undergoing liver transplantation., Liver Transpl., 29(8), 793-803, 2023
  55. Expanding Selection Criteria in Deceased Donor Liver Transplantation for Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Long-term Follow-up of a National Registry and 2 Transplant Centers., Transplantation, 2024
  56. Has the risk of liver re-transplantation improved over the two decades?, Clin Transplant., 2023
  57. Hepatic irradiation persistently eliminates liver resident NK cells., PloS one, 13(6), 2018
  58. Hybrid Surgery for Portosystemic Encephalopathy in a Patient with Liver Cirrhosis: a case report., Hiroshima journal of medical sciences, 66(1), 2017
  59. Immunotherapy Using Activated Natural Killer Cells Improves Postoperative Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio and Long-Term Prognosis of Living Donor Liver Transplant Recipients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma, TRANSPLANTATION PROCEEDINGS, 56(3), 634-639, 2024
    Link to Paper Search Results by DOI
  60. Impact of Abdominal Aortic Calcification After Major Hepatobiliary Pancreatic Surgery: A Retrospective Cohort Study, ANTICANCER RESEARCH, 42(12), 5983-5989, 2022
    Link to Paper Search Results by DOI
  61. Impact of Abdominal Aortic Calcification Among Liver Transplantation Recipients., Liver transplantation : official publication of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the International Liver Transplantation Society, 25(1), 2019
  62. Impact of Abdominal Aortic Calcification on Chronic Kidney Disease After Liver Transplantation: A Retrospective Study, Transplant Proc., 55(4), 956-960, 2023
  63. Impact of Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index After Initial Hepatectomy for Hepatocellular Carcinoma: a Retrospective Cohort Study with the Hiroshima Surgical Study Group of Clinical Oncology (HiSCO), J Gastrointest Surg., 27(6), 1152-1158, 2022
  64. Impact of a Liver Immune Status Index among Living Liver Transplant Recipients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma., JMA journal, 7(2), 2024
  65. Impact of a new liver immune status index among patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after initial hepatectomy, ANNALS OF GASTROENTEROLOGICAL SURGERY, 7(6), 987-996, 2023
    Link to Paper Search Results by DOI
  66. Impact of abdominal aortic calcification on clinical outcomes following initial hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma: A retrospective cohort study., Annals of gastroenterological surgery, 6(1), 2022
  67. Impact of donor characteristics on hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence after liver transplantation., The British journal of surgery, 111(4), 2024
  68. Impact on biliary complications of donor abdominal aortic calcification among living donor liver transplantation: a retrospective study, Transplant International, 33(12), 1745-1753, 2020
  69. Independent risk factors that predict bile leakage after hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma: Cohort study., International journal of surgery (London, England), 57, 2018
  70. Interleukin-33 and liver natural killer cells: A novel perspective on antitumor activity in liver fibrosis., Hepatology research : the official journal of the Japan Society of Hepatology, 2024
  71. Intratumoral heterogeneity of programmed cell death ligand-1 expression is common in lung cancer., PloS one, 12(10), 2017
  72. Landscape of donor cause of death and its impact on liver transplant outcomes: a ten-year analysis from the UNOS database., HPB : the official journal of the International Hepato Pancreato Biliary Association, 2024
  73. LightGBM outperforms other machine learning techniques in predicting graft failure after liver transplantation: Creation of a predictive model through large-scale analysis, CLINICAL TRANSPLANTATION, 38(4), 2024
    Link to Paper Search Results by DOI
  74. Long-lasting complete response status of advanced stage IV gall bladder cancer and colon cancer after combined treatment including autologous formalin-fixed tumor vaccine: two case reports., World journal of surgical oncology, 15(1), 2017
  75. Management of Refractory Ascites for Liver Transplant Candidates: A Novel Cell-free and Concentrated Ascites Reinfusion Therapy., Transplantation proceedings, 51(8), 2019
  76. Overcoming the hurdles of steatotic grafts in liver transplantation: Insights into survival and prognostic factors., Liver Transpl., 2023
  77. Perforation of the gallbladder in a patient with acute cytomegalovirus cholecystitis shortly following renal transplantation, Transplant Infectious Disease, 19(5), 2017
  78. Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity and modified Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity for the mortality prediction among nonagenarians undergoing emergency surgery., The Journal of surgical research, 210, 2017
  79. Polymorphisms in TRAIL predict long-term survival and extrahepatic recurrence following initial hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma., Journal of hepato-biliary-pancreatic sciences, 25(8), 2018
  80. Protection From Second Warm Ischemic Injury Using a Thermal Barrier Bag in Kidney Transplantation, TRANSPLANTATION DIRECT, 9(3), 2023
    Link to Paper Search Results by DOI
  81. Protection From Second Warm Ischemic Injury Using a Thermal Barrier Bag in Kidney Transplantation., Transplantation direct, 9(3), 2023
  82. Rate of Clinical Complete Response for 1 Year or More in Bone-Metastatic Breast Cancer after Comprehensive Treatments including Autologous Formalin-Fixed Tumor Vaccine., International journal of breast cancer, 2018, 2018
  83. Risk Factors for Refractory Ascites After Living Donor Liver Transplant., Transplantation proceedings, 51(5), 2019
  84. Surgery-related disseminated intravascular coagulation predicts postoperative complications, BMC SURGERY, 23(1), 2023
    Link to Paper Search Results by DOI
  85. Surgery-related disseminated intravascular coagulation predicts postoperative complications., BMC surgery, 23(1), 2023
  86. The Current State of Liver Transplantation for Colorectal Liver Metastases in the United States: A Call for Standardized Reporting., Ann Surg Oncol., 30(5), 2769-2777, 2023
  87. The Spread Pattern of New Practice in Liver Transplantation in the United States., Clinical transplantation, 38(7), 2024
  88. The aryl hydrocarbon receptor maintains antitumor activity of liver resident natural killer cells after partial hepatectomy in C57BL/6J mice, CANCER MEDICINE, 12(19), 19821-19837, 2023
    Link to Paper Search Results by DOI
  89. The short and long-term prognostic influences of liver grafts with high bilirubin levels at the time of organ recovery., Clin Transplant., 2023
  90. The suggestion of mitigating disparity in the liver transplantation field among ABO blood type., American journal of transplantation : official journal of the American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, 2024
  91. Usefulness of Totally Implantable Central Venous Access Devices in Elderly Patients: A Retrospective Study., Annals of nutrition & metabolism, 72(2), 2018
  92. Validity of predictive factors of acute complicated appendicitis., World journal of emergency surgery : WJES, 11, 2016
  93. [A case of triple-negative breast cancer responding to multidisciplinary treatment containing bevacizumab]., Gan to kagaku ryoho. Cancer & chemotherapy, 41(4), 2014
  94. [Estimation of peritoneal dissemination in patients with unresectable advanced or recurrent colorectal cancer who underwent curative resection after combination chemotherapy]., Gan to kagaku ryoho. Cancer & chemotherapy, 41(5), 2014

Awards

  1. 2025, Best Abstract Award, Japan Society of Surgery
  2. 2025, Presidental Award, Japan Society of Hepato-Biliary Pancreatic Surgery
  3. 2025, Scholar-in-Training Award, American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
  4. 2024, Academic Surgical Congress (ASC) Travel Grant, 日本外科学会
  5. 2024, Top Scoring Abstract Winner, The Society of University Surgeons (SUS)
  6. 2023, TTS Scientific Congress Award, The Transplantation Society (TTS)

Social Activities

History as Peer Reviews of Academic Papers

  1. 2025, Scientific Reports, Reviewer, 1
  2. 2025, Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Reviewer, 3
  3. 2025, Liver Transplantation, Reviewer, 1
  4. 2025, BMC Cancer, Reviewer, 1
  5. 2025, International Journal of Surgery, Reviewer, 1
  6. 2025, BMC Gastroentelogy, Reviewer, 1
  7. 2024, World Journal of Surgery, Reviewer, 1
  8. 2024, Supportive Care in Cancer, Reviewer, 1
  9. 2024, Scientific Reports, Reviewer, 4
  10. 2024, Preventive Medicine Reports, Reviewer, 1
  11. 2024, Expert Review of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Reviewer, 1
  12. 2024, Discover Oncology, Reviewer, 1
  13. 2024, Biochemical Molecular Toxicology, Reviewer, 1