Augusto Villanueva, Anna Portela, Sergi Sayols, Carlo Battiston, Yujin Hoshida, Jesús Méndez‐González, Sandrine Imbeaud, Eric Letouzé, Virginia Hernandez‐Gea, Helena Cornella, Roser Pinyol, Manel Solé, Josep Fuster, Jessica Zucman‐Rossi, Vincenzo Mazzaferro, Manel Esteller, Josep M. Llovet, on behalf of the HEPTROMIC Consortium – 2 February 2015 – Epigenetic deregulation has emerged as a driver in human malignancies. There is no clear understanding of the epigenetic alterations in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and of the potential role of DNA methylation markers as prognostic biomarkers.

Naoko Kamo, Toshimi Kaido, Ahmed Hammad, Kohei Ogawa, Yasuhiro Fujimoto, Tadahiro Uemura, Akira Mori, Etsuro Hatano, Hideaki Okajima, Shinji Uemoto – 31 January 2015 – Elderly donor grafts for liver transplantation (LT) are recognized to be marginal grafts. The present study investigated the impact of using elderly donors for LT. Between June 1990 and August 2012, 1631 patients received LT at Kyoto University Hospital. Out of 1631 patients, 1597 patients received living donor liver transplantation (LDLT), whereas the other 34 patients underwent deceased donor liver transplantation (DDLT).

Yael Asman, Amy R. Evenson, Einat Even‐Sapir, Oren Shibolet – 31 January 2015 – Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer and the third most common cause of cancer‐related death worldwide. Orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) and resection are curative treatment options for well‐selected patients with HCC, whereas loco‐ablative therapy has been shown to prolong survival.

Erkan Parlak, Fahrettin Küçükay, Aydın Şeref Köksal, Ahmet Tarık Eminler, Mustafa İhsan Uslan, Sezai Yılmaz – 31 January 2015

Scott W. Biggins – 31 January 2015

Alessandro Vitale, Michael Volk, Umberto Cillo – 31 January 2015

Pietro Lampertico – 30 January 2015

Scott L. Friedman – 30 January 2015

Mi Na Kim, Seung Up Kim, Beom Kyung Kim, Jun Yong Park, Do Young Kim, Sang Hoon Ahn, Ki Jun Song, Young Nyun Park, Kwang‐Hyub Han – 30 January 2015 – Early detection of liver cirrhosis in its subclinical stage is of paramount importance to identify high‐risk individuals for developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study investigated whether transient elastography (TE) can identify patients with subclinical cirrhosis (SCC) who are at increased risk of developing HCC among chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients without clinical evidence of cirrhosis.

Stefan M. Brunner, Christoph Rubner, Rebecca Kesselring, Maria Martin, Eva Griesshammer, Petra Ruemmele, Thomas Stempfl, Andreas Teufel, Hans J. Schlitt, Stefan Fichtner‐Feigl – 30 January 2015 – Interleukin‐33 (IL‐33), a cytokine with pleiotropic functions, is elevated in serum of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study investigated the effects of local IL‐33 expression in resected HCC on patient survival and on the immunological and molecular tumor microenvironment.