Etanercept blocks inflammatory responses orchestrated by TNF‐α to promote transplanted cell engraftment and proliferation in rat liver

Preeti Viswanathan, Sorabh Kapoor, Vinay Kumaran, Brigid Joseph, Sanjeev Gupta – 21 May 2014 – Engraftment of transplanted cells is critical for liver‐directed cell therapy, but most transplanted cells are rapidly cleared from liver sinusoids by proinflammatory cytokines/chemokines/receptors after activation of neutrophils or Kupffer cells (KCs). To define whether tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF‐α) served roles in cell‐transplantation–induced hepatic inflammation, we used the TNF‐α antagonist, etanercept (ETN), for studies in syngeneic rat hepatocyte transplantation systems.

Diabetes mellitus is an independent prognostic factor for major liver‐related outcomes in patients with cirrhosis and chronic hepatitis C

Laure Elkrief, Pascale Chouinard, Noelle Bendersky, David Hajage, Béatrice Larroque, Gérard Babany, Blaise Kutala, Claire Francoz, Nathalie Boyer, Richard Moreau, François Durand, Patrick Marcellin, Pierre‐Emmanuel Rautou, Dominique Valla – 20 May 2014 – In patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC), cirrhosis is associated with age, gender, diabetes, alcohol abuse, and coinfection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or hepatitis B virus (HBV). The effect of these factors on the outcome of cirrhosis is unknown.

Shotgun proteomics: Identification of unique protein profiles of apoptotic bodies from biliary epithelial cells

Ana Lleo, Weici Zhang, W. Hayes McDonald, Erin H. Seeley, Patrick S.C. Leung, Ross L. Coppel, Aftab A. Ansari, David H. Adams, Simon Afford, Pietro Invernizzi, M. Eric Gershwin – 20 May 2014 – Shotgun proteomics is a powerful analytic method to characterize complex protein mixtures in combination with multidimensional liquid chromatography‐tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐MS/MS).

Waiting time predicts survival after liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma: A cohort study using the United Network for Organ Sharing registry

Barry Schlansky, Yiyi Chen, David L. Scott, Donald Austin, Willscott E. Naugler – 18 May 2014 – Recipients of liver transplantation (LT) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have an 8% to 20% risk of HCC recurrence. Single‐center studies suggest that a period of waiting after HCC therapy may facilitate the selection of patients at low risk for post‐LT HCC recurrence and mortality. We evaluated whether a longer waiting time after Model for End‐Stage Liver Disease (MELD) prioritization for HCC predicts longer post‐LT survival.

Hepatocytes buried in the cirrhotic livers of patients with biliary atresia proliferate and function in the livers of urokinase‐type plasminogen activator–NOG mice

Hiroshi Suemizu, Kazuaki Nakamura, Kenji Kawai, Yuichiro Higuchi, Mureo Kasahara, Junichiro Fujimoto, Akito Tanoue, Masato Nakamura – 18 May 2014 – The pathogenesis of biliary atresia (BA), which leads to end‐stage cirrhosis in most patients, has been thought to inflame and obstruct the intrahepatic and extrahepatic bile ducts. BA is not believed to be caused by abnormalities in parenchymal hepatocytes. However, there has been no report of a detailed analysis of hepatocytes buried in the cirrhotic livers of patients with BA.

Outcomes of patients with cytomegalovirus viremia at the time of liver transplantation

Jackrapong Bruminhent, Raymund R. Razonable – 17 May 2014 – Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection has been associated with poor outcomes after liver transplantation. Whether it is safe to perform transplantation for patients with active CMV viremia is not known. Here we report the outcomes of 6 patients with CMV viremia immediately before or at the time of liver transplantation.

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