Emily M. Fredericks, M. James Lopez – 30 October 2013 – Watch a video presentation of this article

Young‐Joo Yang, Ju Hyun Shim, Kang Mo Kim, Young‐Suk Lim, Han Chu Lee – 29 October 2013 – A primary nonresponse to oral drugs against hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a generally accepted criterion for interrupting treatment. We investigated whether the concept of primary nonresponse suggested by current American (AASLD) and European (EASL) guidelines is appropriate for treatment with entecavir (ETV). The study included 1,254 treatment‐naïve patients who had pretreatment HBV DNA levels of >2,000 IU/mL and received ETV 0.5 mg/day for over 6 months.

Nicola F. Fletcher, Rupesh Sutaria, Juandy Jo, Amy Barnes, Miroslava Blahova, Luke W. Meredith, Francois‐Loic Cosset, Stuart M. Curbishley, David H. Adams, Antonio Bertoletti, Jane A. McKeating – 29 October 2013 – Macrophages are critical components of the innate immune response in the liver. Chronic hepatitis C is associated with immune infiltration and the infected liver shows a significant increase in total macrophage numbers; however, their role in the viral life cycle is poorly understood.

Elea Conrad, Theresa K. Resch, Patricia Gogesch, Ulrich Kalinke, Ingo Bechmann, Christian Bogdan, Zoe Waibler – 29 October 2013 – Cell types and mechanisms involved in type I interferon (IFN)‐mediated anti‐inflammatory effects are poorly understood. Upon injection of artificial double‐stranded RNA (poly(I:C)), we observed severe liver damage in type I IFN‐receptor (IFNAR) chain 1‐deficient mice, but not in wild‐type (WT) controls. Studying mice with conditional IFNAR ablations revealed that IFNAR triggering of myeloid cells is essential to protect mice from poly(I:C)‐induced liver damage.

Zhigang Wang, Xiaobing Dou, Songtao Li, Ximei Zhang, Xinguo Sun, Zhanxiang Zhou, Zhenyuan Song – 29 October 2013 – Chronic alcohol consumption leads to hypertriglyceridemia, which is positively associated with alcoholic liver disease (ALD). However, whether and how it contributes to the development of fatty liver and liver injury are largely unknown. In this study we demonstrate that chronic alcohol exposure differently regulates the expression of very‐low‐density lipoprotein receptor (VLDLR) in adipose tissue and the liver.

Ciprian Tomuleasa, Gianluigi Giannelli, Andrei Cucuianu, Mihaela Aldea, Angelo Paradiso, Ioana Berindan‐Neagoe – 29 October 2013

Nir I. Nativ, Alvin I. Chen, Gabriel Yarmush, Scot D. Henry, Jay H. Lefkowitch, Kenneth M. Klein, Timothy J. Maguire, Rene Schloss, James V. Guarrera, Francois Berthiaume, Martin L. Yarmush – 29 October 2013 – Large‐droplet macrovesicular steatosis (ld‐MaS) in more than 30% of liver graft hepatocytes is a major risk factor for liver transplantation.

Andrea D. Branch, Burc Barin, Adeeb Rahman, Peter Stock, Thomas D. Schiano – 29 October 2013 – An optimal vitamin D status may benefit liver transplantation (LT) patients. Higher levels of 25‐hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] mitigate steroid‐induced bone loss after LT, correlate with better hepatitis C virus treatment responses, and increase graft survival.

Ulrich Beuers, Andreas E. Kremer, Ruth Bolier, Ronald P.J. Oude Elferink – 29 October 2013 – Pruritus is a common symptom in patients with cholestatic liver diseases such as primary biliary cirrhosis, primary sclerosing cholangitis, intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy, or hereditary pediatric cholestatic disorders and may accompany, although less frequently, many other liver diseases.

Juanjuan Zhao, Zheng Zhang, Yan Luan, Zhengsheng Zou, Yanling Sun, Yonggang Li, Lei Jin, Chunbao Zhou, Junliang Fu, Bin Gao, Yangxin Fu, Fu‐Sheng Wang – 29 October 2013 – It is well established that interleukin (IL)‐22 has hepatoprotective and antifibrotic functions in acute liver injury models; however, its function in patients with liver fibrosis and liver cirrhosis (LC) remains obscure.