Shirin Ashraf, Katja Nitschke, Usama M. Warshow, Collin R. Brooks, Arthur Y. Kim, Georg M. Lauer, Theresa J. Hydes, Matthew E. Cramp, Graeme Alexander, Ann‐Margaret Little, Robert Thimme, Christoph Neumann‐Haefelin, Salim I. Khakoo – 26 March 2013 – CD8+ T‐cell responses to hepatitis C virus (HCV) are important in generating a successful immune response and spontaneously clearing infection. Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I presents viral peptides to CD8+ T cells to permit detection of infected cells, and tapasin is an important component of the peptide loading complex for HLA class I.

Raoul Poupon, Olivier Rosmorduc, Pierre Yves Boëlle, Yves Chrétien, Christophe Corpechot, Olivier Chazouillères, Chantal Housset, Véronique Barbu – 26 March 2013 – The low‐phospholipid‐associated cholelithiasis syndrome (LPAC; OMIM 171060) is a peculiar form of intrahepatic cholelithiasis occurring in young adults, associated with ABCB4/MDR3 gene sequence variations. Our aim was to determine the genotype‐phenotype relationships in 156 consecutive patients with the criteria of LPAC syndrome.

Kazuhito Kawata, Guo‐Xiang Yang, Yugo Ando, Hajime Tanaka, Weici Zhang, Yoshimasa Kobayashi, Koichi Tsuneyama, Patrick S.C. Leung, Zhe‐Xiong Lian, William M. Ridgway, Aftab A. Ansari, Xiao‐Song He, M. Eric Gershwin – 26 March 2013 – There are several murine models described with features similar to human primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). Among these models, the one which has the closest serologic features to PBC is a mouse with a T‐cell‐restricted expression of the dominant negative transforming growth factor β receptor type II (dnTGFβRII).

Carmen Garcia‐Ruiz, José C. Fernandez‐Checa – 26 March 2013

Luc Gailhouste, Laura Gomez‐Santos, Keitaro Hagiwara, Izuho Hatada, Noriyuki Kitagawa, Kazushi Kawaharada, Muriel Thirion, Nobuyoshi Kosaka, Ryou‐u Takahashi, Tatsuhiro Shibata, Atsushi Miyajima, Takahiro Ochiya – 26 March 2013 – MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are evolutionary conserved small RNAs that post‐transcriptionally regulate the expression of target genes. To date, the role of miRNAs in liver development is not fully understood.

Piero Amodio, Juan Cordoba – 26 March 2013

Adeline Bertola, Ogyi Park, Bin Gao – 26 March 2013 – Chronic plus binge ethanol feeding acts synergistically to induce liver injury in mice, but the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon remain unclear. Here, we show that chronic plus binge ethanol feeding synergistically up‐regulated the hepatic expression of interleukin‐1β and tumor necrosis factor alpha and induced neutrophil accumulation in the liver, compared with chronic or binge feeding alone.

Elisa Herraez, Elisa Lozano, Rocio I.R. Macias, Javier Vaquero, Luis Bujanda, Jesus M. Banales, Jose J.G. Marin, Oscar Briz – 26 March 2013 – Reduced drug uptake is an important mechanism of chemoresistance. Down‐regulation of SLC22A1 encoding the organic cation transporter‐1 (OCT1) may affect the response of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma (CGC) to sorafenib, a cationic drug. Here we investigated whether SLC22A1 variants may contribute to sorafenib chemoresistance.

Jens U. Marquardt, Kerstin Fischer, Katharina Baus, Anubha Kashyap, Shengyun Ma, Markus Krupp, Matthias Linke, Andreas Teufel, Ulrich Zechner, Dennis Strand, Snorri S. Thorgeirsson, Peter R. Galle, Susanne Strand – 23 March 2013 – Sirtuin 6 (SIRT6) is a member of the sirtuin family of NAD+–dependent deacetylases. Genetic deletion of Sirt6 in mice results in a severe degenerative phenotype with impaired liver function and premature death. The role of SIRT6 in development and progression of hepatocellular carcinoma is currently unknown.

Frederick J. Suchy – 23 March 2013