Libo Wang, Shaminie Athinarayanan, Guanglong Jiang, Naga Chalasani, Min Zhang, Wanqing Liu – 14 August 2014 – Fatty acid desaturase (FADS) genes and their variants have been associated with multiple metabolic phenotypes, including liver enzymes and hepatic fat accumulation, but the detailed mechanism remains unclear. We aimed to delineate the role of FADSs in modulating lipid composition in human liver. We performed a targeted lipidomic analysis of a variety of phospholipids, sphingolipids, and ceramides among 154 human liver tissue samples.

Xu Xu, Jong‐Gil Park, Jae‐Seon So, Ann‐Hwee Lee – 14 August 2014 – Fat‐specific protein 27 (Fsp27) is a lipid droplet‐associated protein that promotes lipid droplet (LD) growth and triglyceride (TG) storage in white adipocytes. Fsp27 is also highly expressed in the steatotic liver and contributes to TG accumulation. In this study we discovered that the liver produces Fsp27β, an alternative Fsp27 isoform, which contains 10 additional amino acids at the N‐terminus of the original Fsp27 (Fsp27α).

Sun‐wook Kim, Hee‐won Jung – 14 August 2014

Mattias Ekstedt, Hannes Hagström, Patrik Nasr, Mats Fredrikson, Per Stål, Stergios Kechagias, Rolf Hultcrantz – 14 August 2014 – Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disease in the Western world, strongly associated with insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, i.e., fatty liver accompanied by necroinflammatory changes, is mostly defined by the NAFLD activity score (NAS).

Eric F. Donaldson, Patrick R. Harrington, Julian J. O'Rear, Lisa K. Naeger – 14 August 2014 – Sofosbuvir (Sovaldi, SOF) is a nucleotide analog prodrug that targets the hepatitis C virus (HCV) nonstructural protein 5B (NS5B) polymerase and inhibits viral replication. High sustained virological response rates are achieved when SOF is used in combination with ribavirin with or without pegylated interferon in subjects with chronic HCV infection. Potential mechanisms of HCV resistance to SOF and other nucleos(t)ide analog NS5B polymerase inhibitors are not well understood.

Jean Charles Nault, Julien Calderaro, Luca Di Tommaso, Charles Balabaud, Elie Serge Zafrani, Paulette Bioulac‐Sage, Massimo Roncalli, Jessica Zucman‐Rossi – 14 August 2014

Mattias Ekstedt, Hannes Hagström, Patrik Nasr, Mats Fredrikson, Per Stål, Stergios Kechagias, Rolf Hultcrantz – 14 August 2014 – Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disease in the Western world, strongly associated with insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, i.e., fatty liver accompanied by necroinflammatory changes, is mostly defined by the NAFLD activity score (NAS).

Evrim Anadol, Robert Schierwagen, Natalia Elfimova, Katharina Tack, Carolynne Schwarze‐Zander, Hanna Eischeid, Andrea Noetel, Christoph Boesecke, Christian Jansen, Leona Dold, Jan‐Christian Wasmuth, Christian P. Strassburg, Ulrich Spengler, Jürgen Kurt Rockstroh, Margarete Odenthal, Jonel Trebicka – 14 August 2014 – Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis virus coinfection amplify and accelerate hepatic injury. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small regulatory RNAs suggested as biomarkers for liver injury.

Christoph Wierling – 13 August 2014

Miriam Cortes, Niteen Tapuria, Shirin Elizabeth Khorsandi, Eugenia Pareja Ibars, Hector Vilca‐Melendez, Mohamed Rela, Nigel D. Heaton – 13 August 2014 – A diaphragmatic hernia (DH) is a rare complication of pediatric liver transplantation (LT), with multiple factors implicated in the pathophysiology. It is a potentially life‐threatening condition in the absence of early recognition and surgical treatment. A DH after LT has been reported in 16 patients in 7 case series. We report 10 cases from our institution and review the published literature to understand the underlying pathophysiology.