Diego F. Cuadros, Adam J. Branscum, F. DeWolfe Miller, Laith J. Abu‐Raddad – 9 June 2014 – Egypt has the highest hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence in the world (14.7%). The drivers of the HCV epidemic in Egypt are not well understood, but the mass parenteral antischistosomal therapy (PAT) campaigns in the second half of the 20th century are believed to be the determinant of the high prevalence. We studied HCV exposure in Egypt at a microscale through spatial mapping and epidemiological description of HCV clustering. The source of data was the 2008 Egypt Demographic and Health Survey.

Tai Hato, Lipika Goyal, Tim F. Greten, Dan G. Duda, Andrew X. Zhu – 9 June 2014 – Immune checkpoint blockade has recently emerged as a promising therapeutic approach for various malignancies including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Preclinical and clinical studies have shown the potential benefit of modulating the immunogenicity of HCC. In addition, recent advances in tumor immunology have broadened our understanding of the complex mechanism of immune evasion.

Katharina John, Johannes Hadem, Till Krech, Kristin Wahl, Michael P. Manns, Steven Dooley, Sandor Batkai, Thomas Thum, Klaus Schulze‐Osthoff, Heike Bantel – 9 June 2014 – Acute liver failure (ALF) represents a life‐threatening situation characterized by sudden and massive liver cell death in the absence of preexisting liver disease. Although most patients require liver transplantation to prevent mortality, some recover spontaneously and show complete liver regeneration.

Mark J Kurth, Tsuyoshi Yokoi, M. Eric Gershwin – 9 June 2014

Ian N. Crispe – 9 June 2014

Jiacheng Bi, Xiaodong Zheng, Yongyan Chen, Haiming Wei, Rui Sun, Zhigang Tian – 9 June 2014 – Overactivation of innate immunity, particularly natural killer (NK) cells, is harmful to liver regeneration; however, the molecular mechanisms that limit NK cell overactivation during liver regeneration are still elusive. Here we show that a coinhibitory receptor, T cell Ig and ITIM domain (TIGIT), was selectively up‐regulated on NK cells, along with high expression of its ligand, poliovirus receptor (PVR/CD155), on hepatocytes during liver regeneration.

Katja Roos, Daniel Gotthardt, Thomas Giese, Paul Schnitzler, Wolfgang Stremmel, David Czock, Christoph Eisenbach – 3 June 2014 – Drug interactions with immunosuppressive drugs are a major problem associated with protease inhibitor–based antiviral triple therapy for hepatitis C virus (HCV) reinfection after liver transplantation. In this retrospective cohort study, we analyzed biomarkers of the immunosuppressive effects of cyclosporine A (CSA) by quantifying nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT)–regulated gene expression during telaprevir (TVR) therapy in 5 liver transplant patients.

Tomoharu Yoshizumi, Toru Ikegami, Koichi Kimura, Hideaki Uchiyama, Tetsuo Ikeda, Ken Shirabe, Yoshihiko Maehara – 3 June 2014 – Right posterior sector (RPS) grafts have been used to overcome graft size discrepancies, the major concern of living donor liver transplantation. Previous studies have reported the volumetry‐based selection of RPS grafts without anatomical exclusion. We reviewed our data and established selection criteria for RPS grafts. The procurement of RPS grafts [conventional (n = 3) and extended (n = 5)] was performed for 8 of 429 recipients at our center.

Shu Yang Lu, Kenichi A. Tanaka, Ezeldeen Abuelkasem, Raymond M. Planinsic, Tetsuro Sakai – 30 May 2014 – Unlike kaolin thrombelastography (k‐TEG), the clinical utility of rapid thrombelastography (r‐TEG) and functional fibrinogen thrombelastography (FF‐TEG) has not been tested in liver transplantation (LT). These thrombelastography techniques were simultaneously performed at the time of the skin incision (the baseline) and 30 minutes after graft reperfusion (III + 30) for 27 consecutive adult LT patients.

Maximilian Jara, Antje Schulz, Maciej Malinowski, Gero Puhl, Johan Friso Lock, Daniel Seehofer, Peter Neuhaus, Martin Stockmann – 30 May 2014 – End‐stage liver disease is accompanied by decreased serum levels of insulin‐like growth factor 1 (IGF1) and inversely increased serum levels of growth hormone (GH). Previous reports have demonstrated rapid GH/IGF1 axis recovery after orthotopic liver transplantation.