Marine Baptissart, Aurélie Vega, Emmanuelle Martinot, Aurélien J. Pommier, Sander M. Houten, Geoffroy Marceau, Angélique de Haze, Silvère Baron, Kristina Schoonjans, Jean‐Marc A. Lobaccaro, David H. Volle – 3 May 2014 – Bile acids (BAs) are signaling molecules that are involved in many physiological functions, such as glucose and energy metabolism. These effects are mediated through activation of the nuclear and membrane receptors, farnesoid X receptor (FXR‐α) and TGR5 (G‐protein‐coupled bile acid receptor 1; GPBAR1).

Sonya Parpart, Stephanie Roessler, Fei Dong, Vinay Rao, Atsushi Takai, Junfang Ji, Lun‐Xiu Qin, Qing‐Hai Ye, Hu‐Liang Jia, Zhao‐You Tang, Xin Wei Wang – 3 May 2014 – Globally, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) accounts for 70%‐85% of primary liver cancers and ranks as the second leading cause of male cancer death. Serum alpha‐fetoprotein (AFP), normally highly expressed in the liver only during fetal development, is reactivated in 60% of HCC tumors and associated with poor patient outcome. We hypothesize that AFP+ and AFP− tumors differ biologically.

Sulyi Kim, Tomoko Date, Hiroshi Yokokawa, Tamaki Kono, Hideki Aizaki, Patrick Maurel, Claire Gondeau, Takaji Wakita – 3 May 2014 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 3a infection poses a serious health problem worldwide. A significant association has been reported between HCV genotype 3a infections and hepatic steatosis. Nevertheless, virological characterization of genotype 3a HCV is delayed due to the lack of appropriate virus cell culture systems. In the present study, we established the first infectious genotype 3a HCV system by introducing adaptive mutations into the S310 strain.

Changchun Cai, Hai Huang, Sean Whelan, Li Liu, Benjamin Kautza, Jason Luciano, Guoliang Wang, Guoqiang Chen, Sladjana Stratimirovic, Allan Tsung, Timothy R. Billiar, Brian S. Zuckerbraun – 3 May 2014 – Acetaminophen (APAP) toxicity is the most common cause of acute liver failure in industrialized countries. Understanding the mechanisms of APAP‐induced liver injury as well as other forms of sterile liver injury is critical to improve the care of patients. Recent studies demonstrate that danger signaling and inflammasome activation play a role in APAP‐induced injury.

Koen Vercauteren, Naomi Van Den Eede, Ahmed Atef Mesalam, Sandrine Belouzard, Maria Teresa Catanese, Dorothea Bankwitz, Flossie Wong‐Staal, Riccardo Cortese, Jean Dubuisson, Charles M. Rice, Thomas Pietschmann, Geert Leroux‐Roels, Alfredo Nicosia, Philip Meuleman – 3 May 2014 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV)‐induced endstage liver disease is currently a major indication for liver transplantation. After transplantation the donor liver inevitably becomes infected with the circulating virus.

Michael H. Levy, Sarah Larney – 3 May 2014

Sung‐Min Ahn, Se Jin Jang, Ju Hyun Shim, Deokhoon Kim, Seung‐Mo Hong, Chang Ohk Sung, Daehyun Baek, Farhan Haq, Adnan Ahmad Ansari, Sun Young Lee, Sung‐Min Chun, Seongmin Choi, Hyun‐Jeung Choi, Jongkyu Kim, Sukjun Kim, Shin Hwang, Young‐Joo Lee, Jong‐eun Lee, Wang‐rim Jung, Hye Yoon Jang, Eunho Yang, Wing‐Kin Sung, Nikki P.

Mariya L. Samoylova, Jennifer L. Dodge, Francis Y. Yao, John Paul Roberts – 3 May 2014 – In the United States, there are significant geographic disparities in the time to transplantation for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); it is possible that rapid transplantation contributes to higher rates of posttransplant HCC recurrence because there is insufficient time for the tumor biology to manifest. In this study, we compared HCC recurrence in rapid transplant patients and their slower transplant counterparts.

Nirmala Mavila, David James, Pranavkumar Shivakumar, Marie V. Nguyen, Sarah Utley, Katrina Mak, Allison Wu, Shengmei Zhou, Larry Wang, Christopher Vendyres, Megan Groff, Kinji Asahina, Kasper S. Wang – 3 May 2014 – Biliary atresia (BA), the most common cause of end‐stage liver disease and the leading indication for pediatric liver transplantation, is associated with intrahepatic ductular reactions within regions of rapidly expanding periportal biliary fibrosis.

Gwen Murphy, Angelika Michel, Philip R. Taylor, Demetrius Albanes, Stephanie J. Weinstein, Jarmo Virtamo, Dominick Parisi, Kirk Snyder, Julia Butt, Katherine A. McGlynn, Jill Koshiol, Michael Pawlita, Gabriel Y. Lai, Christian C. Abnet, Sanford M. Dawsey, Neal D. Freedman – 2 May 2014 – Helicobacter have been detected in human bile and hepatobiliary tissue. Despite evidence that Helicobacter species promote gallstone formation and hepatobiliary tumors in laboratory studies, it remains unclear whether Helicobacter species contribute to these cancers in humans.