Fasiha Kanwal, Jennifer R. Kramer, Jawad Ilyas, Zhigang Duan, Hashem B. El‐Serag – 24 February 2014 – Data show that viral genotype 1 may increase the risk of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) compared to genotype 2 in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. However, the effect of HCV genotype 3 on cirrhosis and HCC risk is uncertain. We identified patients with active HCV infection, confirmed by positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and a known HCV genotype, from the VA HCV Clinical Case Registry between 2000 and 2009.

Taro Yamashita, Azusa Kitao, Osamu Matsui, Takehiro Hayashi, Kouki Nio, Mitsumasa Kondo, Naoki Ohno, Tosiaki Miyati, Hikari Okada, Tatsuya Yamashita, Eishiro Mizukoshi, Masao Honda, Yasuni Nakanuma, Hiroyuki Takamura, Tetsuo Ohta, Yasunari Nakamoto, Masakazu Yamamoto, Tadatoshi Takayama, Shigeki Arii, XinWei Wang, Shuichi Kaneko – 23 February 2014 – The survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is often individually different even after surgery for early‐stage tumors.

George K. Michalopoulos – 23 February 2014

Martin Krššák – 23 February 2014

Jens M. Werner, Elisavet Serti, Xenia Chepa‐Lotrea, Jonathan Stoltzfus, Golo Ahlenstiel, Mazen Noureddin, Jordan J. Feld, T. Jake Liang, Yaron Rotman, Barbara Rehermann – 23 February 2014 – Ribavirin (RBV) is an important component of interferon (IFN)‐based and direct antiviral treatment regimens for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Immunomodulation, in particular improvement of the host IFN response, has been proposed as RBV's mechanism of action.

Christian E. Oberkofler, Perparim Limani, Jae‐Hwi Jang, Andreas Rickenbacher, Kuno Lehmann, Dimitri A. Raptis, Udo Ungethuem, Yinghua Tian, Kamile Grabliauskaite, Rok Humar, Rolf Graf, Bostjan Humar, Pierre‐Alain Clavien – 23 February 2014 – Remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC), the repetitive transient mechanical obstruction of vessels at a limb remote to the operative site, is a novel strategy to mitigate distant organ injury associated with surgery.

Aki Ikeda, Nobuhiro Aoki, Masahiro Kido, Satoru Iwamoto, Hisayo Nishiura, Ryutaro Maruoka, Tsutomu Chiba, Norihiko Watanabe – 23 February 2014 – Clinical manifestations of autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) range from mild chronic to acute, sometimes fulminant hepatitis. However, it is unknown how the progression to fatal hepatitis occurs. We developed a mouse model of fatal AIH by inducing a concurrent loss of forkhead box P3+ regulatory T cells and programmed cell death‐1 (PD‐1)‐mediated signaling.

Runping Liu, Renping Zhao, Xiqiao Zhou, Xiuyin Liang, Deanna J.W. Campbell, Xiaoxuan Zhang, Luyong Zhang, Ruihua Shi, Guangji Wang, William M. Pandak, Alphonse E. Sirica, Phillip B. Hylemon, Huiping Zhou – 22 February 2014 – Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is an often fatal primary malignancy of the intra‐ and extrahepatic biliary tract that is commonly associated with chronic cholestasis and significantly elevated levels of primary and conjugated bile acids (CBAs), which are correlated with bile duct obstruction (BDO). BDO has also recently been shown to promote CCA progression.

Ashwani K. Singal, Charles Parker, Christine Bowden, Manish Thapar, Lawrence Liu, Brendan M. McGuire – 22 February 2014 – Porphyrias are a group of eight metabolic disorders, each resulting from a mutation that affects an enzyme of the heme biosynthetic pathway. Porphyrias are classified as hepatic or erythropoietic, depending upon the site where the gene defect is predominantly expressed.

Branden D. Tarlow, Milton J. Finegold, Markus Grompe – 22 February 2014 – Proliferating ducts, termed “oval cells,” have long been thought to be bipotential, that is, produce both biliary ducts and hepatocytes during chronic liver injury. The precursor to oval cells is considered to be a facultative liver stem cell (LSC). Recent lineage tracing experiments indicated that the LSC is SRY‐related HMG box transcription factor 9 postive (Sox9+) and can replace the bulk of hepatocyte mass in several settings.