Hugo Ramón Rosen – 19 September 2016 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has dominated the field of hepatology for the past 25 years, and its cure in the majority of treated patients is one of the greatest achievements in all of medicine. However, the latter has led to the belief by some that HCV research should be shelved for other, more pressing areas. The mission for HCV eradication is far from accomplished.

Dan Li, Weiping Li, Lijian Hui – 19 September 2016

David C. Mulligan – 19 September 2016

Zhiqiang Li, Inamul Kabir, Hui Jiang, Hongwen Zhou, Jenny Libien, Jianying Zeng, Albert Stanek, Peiqi Ou, Kailyn R. Li, Shane Zhang, Hai H. Bui, Ming‐Shang Kuo, Tae‐Sik Park, Benjamin Kim, Tilla S. Worgall, Chongmin Huan, Xian‐Cheng Jiang – 19 September 2016 – Serine palmitoyltransferase is the key enzyme in sphingolipid biosynthesis. Mice lacking serine palmitoyltransferase are embryonic lethal.

Theodorus B.M. Hakvoort, Youji He, Wim Kulik, Jacqueline L.M. Vermeulen, Suzanne Duijst, Jan M. Ruijter, Jurgen H. Runge, Nicolaas E.P. Deutz, S. Eleonore Koehler, Wouter H. Lamers – 19 September 2016 – Glutamine synthetase (GS) catalyzes condensation of ammonia with glutamate to glutamine. Glutamine serves, with alanine, as a major nontoxic interorgan ammonia carrier. Elimination of hepatic GS expression in mice causes only mild hyperammonemia and hypoglutaminemia but a pronounced decrease in the whole‐body muscle‐to‐fat ratio with increased myostatin expression in muscle.

Arielle Klepper, Francis J. Eng, Erin H. Doyle, Ahmed El‐Shamy, Adeeb H. Rahman, M. Isabel Fiel, Gonzalo Carrasco Avino, Moonju Lee, Fei Ye, Sasan Roayaie, Meena B. Bansal, Margaret R. MacDonald, Thomas D. Schiano, Andrea D. Branch – 19 September 2016 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is unique among RNA viruses in its ability to establish chronic infection in the majority of exposed adults. HCV persists in the liver despite interferon (IFN)‐stimulated gene (ISG) induction; robust induction actually predicts treatment failure and viral persistence.

Misako Sato‐Matsubara, Norifumi Kawada – 19 September 2016

Amalia Gastaldelli, Melania Gaggini, Giuseppe Daniele, Demetrio Ciociaro, Eugenio Cersosimo, Devjit Tripathy, Curtis Triplitt, Peter Fox, Nicolas Musi, Ralph DeFronzo, Patricia Iozzo – 17 September 2016 – Glucagon‐like peptide 1 (GLP‐1) receptor agonists (GLP‐1‐RAs) act on multiple tissues, in addition to the pancreas. Recent studies suggest that GLP‐1‐RAs act on liver and adipose tissue to reduce insulin resistance (IR). Thus, we evaluated the acute effects of exenatide (EX) on hepatic (Hep‐IR) and adipose (Adipo‐IR) insulin resistance and glucose uptake.

Akiko Eguchi, Raul G. Lazaro, Jiaohong Wang, Jihoon Kim, Davide Povero, Brandon Willliams, Samuel B. Ho, Peter Stärkel, Bernd Schnabl, Lucila Ohno‐Machado, Hidekazu Tsukamoto, Ariel E. Feldstein – 17 September 2016 – Extracellular vesicles (EVs) released during cell stress, or demise, can contain a barcode of the cell origin, including specific microRNAs (miRNAs). Here, we tested the hypothesis that during early alcoholic steatohepatitis (ASH) development, hepatocytes (HCs) release EVs with an miRNA signature that can be measured in circulation.

Stella Chai, Kai‐Yu Ng, Man Tong, Eunice Y. Lau, Terence K. Lee, Kwok Wah Chan, Yun‐Fei Yuan, Tan‐To Cheung, Siu‐Tim Cheung, Xiao‐Qi Wang, Nathalie Wong, Chung‐Mau Lo, Kwan Man, Xin‐Yuan Guan, Stephanie Ma – 17 September 2016 – Wnt/β‐catenin signaling is activated in CD133 liver cancer stem cells (CSCs), a subset of cells known to be a root of tumor recurrence and therapy resistance in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the regulatory mechanism of this pathway in CSCs remains unclear.