Juha Väyrynen

MD, PhD
Professor
Cancer biology, pathology

Research Unit of Translational Medicine
Faculty of Medicine

Juha Väyrynen is Professor of Pathology at the Translational Medicine Research Unit. He got his MD and PhD degrees in 2014, Title of Docent in Cancer Biology in 2018, and Specialist in Pathology degree in 2022. Dr. Väyrynen worked as Research Fellow in Boston (Professor Shuji Ogino's research group, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Brigham and Women's Hospital; Harvard Medical School) in 2018-2020. His key research interest include gastrointestinal cancers, cancer immunology, and computational methods in pathology.

Research interests

Cancer
Pathology
Immunology

Researcher information

Researcher profiles

Researcher visits

Selected publications

Äijälä VK, Härkönen J, Mantere T, Elomaa H, Sirniö P, Pohjanen VM, Sirkiä O, Karjalainen H, Kastinen M, Tapiainen VV, Väyrynen SA, Pölönen P, Ahtiainen M, Helminen O, Wirta EV, Rintala J, Meriläinen S, Saarnio J, Rautio T, Pylkäs K, Seppälä TT, Böhm J, Mecklin JP, Tuomisto A, Mäkinen MJ, Väyrynen JP. Comprehensive characterization of micropapillary colorectal adenocarcinoma. J Pathol. 2025;265:408-421. PMID: 39917902. doi: 10.1002/path.6392

Tapiainen VV, Sirniö P, Elomaa H, Karjalainen H, Äijälä VK, Kastinen M, Kehusmaa A, Pohjanen VM, Lindgren O, Sirkiä O, Ahtiainen M, Helminen O, Wirta EV, Rintala J, Saarnio J, Rautio T, Seppälä TT, Böhm J, Mecklin JP, Tuomisto A, Mäkinen MJ, Väyrynen JP. Stroma AReactive Invasion Front Areas (SARIFA), tumour immune microenvironment, and survival in colorectal cancer. Br J Cancer. 2025;132:805-813. PMID: 40055484. doi: 10.1038/s41416-025-02972-z

Kastinen M, Sirniö P, Elomaa H, Äijälä VK, Karjalainen H, Tapiainen VV, Pohjanen VM, Kemppainen J, Sliashynskaya K, Ahtiainen M, Rintala J, Meriläinen S, Rautio T, Saarnio J, Mattila TT, Lindgren O, Wirta EV, Helminen O, Seppälä TT, Böhm J, Mecklin JP, Tuomisto A, Mäkinen MJ, Väyrynen JP. Establishing Criteria for Tumor Necrosis as Prognostic Indicator in Colorectal Cancer. Am J Surg Pathol. 2024;48:1284-1292. PMID: 39004843. doi: 10.1097/PAS.0000000000002286

Elomaa H, Härkönen J, Väyrynen SA, Ahtiainen M, Ogino S, Nowak JA, Lau MC, Helminen O, Wirta EV, Seppälä TT, Böhm J, Mecklin JP, Kuopio T, Väyrynen JP. Quantitative Multiplexed Analysis of Indoleamine 2,3-Dioxygenase (IDO) and Arginase-1 (ARG1) Expression and Myeloid Cell Infiltration in Colorectal Cancer. Mod Pathol. 2024;37:100450. PMID: 38369188. DOI: 10.1016/j.modpat.2024.100450

Väyrynen JP. Multiplex immunofluorescence for tumour immune biomarker discovery. Lancet Oncol. 2024;25:151-152. PMID: 38301684. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(23)00583-1

Elomaa H, Ahtiainen M, Väyrynen SA, Ogino S, Nowak JA, Lau MC, Helminen O, Wirta EV, Seppälä TT, Böhm J, Mecklin JP, Kuopio T, Väyrynen JP. Spatially resolved multimarker evaluation of CD274 (PD-L1)/PDCD1 (PD-1) immune checkpoint expression and macrophage polarisation in colorectal cancer. Br J Cancer. 2023;128:2104-2115. PMID: 37002343. DOI: 10.1038/s41416-023-02238-6

Kastinen M, Sirniö P, Elomaa H, Ahtiainen M, Väyrynen SA, Herzig KH, Meriläinen S, Aro R, Häivälä R, Rautio T, Saarnio J, Wirta EV, Helminen O, Seppälä TT, Kuopio T, Böhm J, Tuomisto A, Mecklin JP, Mäkinen MJ, Väyrynen JP. Immunological and prognostic significance of tumour necrosis in colorectal cancer. Br J Cancer. 2023;128:2218-2226. PMID: 37031328. DOI: 10.1038/s41416-023-02258-2

Elomaa H, Ahtiainen M, Väyrynen SA, Ogino S, Nowak JA, Friman M, Helminen O, Wirta EV, Seppälä TT, Böhm J, Mäkinen MJ, Mecklin JP, Kuopio T, Väyrynen JP. Prognostic significance of spatial and density analysis of T lymphocytes in colorectal cancer. Br J Cancer. 2022;127:514-523 PMID: 35449453. DOI: 10.1038/s41416-022-01822-6

Väyrynen JP, Haruki K, Lau MC, Väyrynen SA, Ugai T, Akimoto N, Zhong R, Zhao M, Dias Costa A, Borowsky J, Bell P, Takashima Y, Fujiyoshi K, Arima K, Kishikawa J, Shi SS, Twombly TS, Song M, Wu K, Chan AT, Zhang X, Fuchs CS, Meyerhardt JA, Giannakis M, Ogino S, Nowak JA. Spatial Organization and Prognostic Significance of NK and NKT-like Cells via Multimarker Analysis of the Colorectal Cancer Microenvironment. Cancer Immunol Res. 2022;10:215-227. PMID: 34937729. DOI: 10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-21-0772

Väyrynen JP, Haruki K, Väyrynen SA, Lau MC, Dias Costa A, Borowsky J, Zhao M, Ugai T, Kishikawa J, Akimoto N, Zhong R, Shi S, Chang TW, Fujiyoshi K, Arima K, Twombly TS, Da Silva A, Song M, Wu K, Zhang X, Chan AT, Nishihara R, Fuchs CS, Meyerhardt JA, Giannakis M, Ogino S, Nowak JA. Prognostic significance of myeloid immune cells and their spatial distribution in the colorectal cancer microenvironment. J Immunother Cancer. 2021;9:e002297. PMID: 33931472. DOI: 10.1136/jitc-2020-002297

Väyrynen JP, Haruki K, Lau MC, Väyrynen SA, Zhong R, Dias Costa A, Borowsky J, Zhao M, Fujiyoshi K, Arima K, Twombly TS, Kishikawa J, Gu S, Aminmozaffari S, Shi S, Baba Y, Akimoto N, Ugai T, Da Silva A, Guerriero JL, Song M, Wu K, Chan AT, Nishihara R, Fuchs CS, Meyerhardt JA, Giannakis M, Ogino S, Nowak JA. The Prognostic Role of Macrophage Polarization in the Colorectal Cancer Microenvironment. Cancer Immunol Res. 2021;9:8-19. PMID: 33023967. DOI: 10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-20-0527

Väyrynen JP, Lau MC, Haruki K, Väyrynen SA, Dias Costa A, Borowsky J, Zhao M, Fujiyoshi K, Arima K, Twombly TS, Kishikawa J, Gu S, Aminmozaffari S, Shi S, Baba Y, Akimoto N, Ugai T, Da Silva A, Song M, Wu K, Chan AT, Nishihara R, Fuchs CS, Meyerhardt JA, Giannakis M, Ogino S, Nowak JA. Prognostic Significance of Immune Cell Populations Identified by Machine Learning in Colorectal Cancer Using Routine Hematoxylin and Eosin-Stained Sections. Clin Cancer Res. 2020;26:4326-4338. PMID: 32439699. DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-20-0071

Contact information

E-mail

juha.vayrynen@oulu.fi

Keywords

Cancers Clinical medicine