Yanfeng Liu, Ju‐Bo Zhang, Yi Qin, Wei Wang, Lili Wei, Yigang Teng, Lei Guo, Bo Zhang, Zhenhai Lin, Jing Liu, Zheng‐Gang Ren, Qing‐Hai Ye, Youhua Xie – 16 March 2013 – Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancers and the third leading cause of death from cancer worldwide. HCC has a very poor prognosis because of tumor invasiveness, frequent intrahepatic spread, and extrahepatic metastasis. The molecular mechanism of HCC invasiveness and metastasis is poorly understood.

Tobias Pusterla, Julia Nèmeth, Ilan Stein, Lars Wiechert, David Knigin, Silke Marhenke, Thomas Longerich, Varun Kumar, Bernd Arnold, Arndt Vogel, Angelika Bierhaus, Eli Pikarsky, Jochen Hess, Peter Angel – 16 March 2013 – The receptor for advanced glycation endproducts (RAGE) is a multiligand receptor and member of the immunoglobulin superfamily.

Yu‐fei Pan, Ye‐xiong Tan, Min Wang, Jian Zhang, Bo Zhang, Chun Yang, Zhi‐wen Ding, Li‐wei Dong, Hong‐yang Wang – 16 March 2013 – Macrophages (Mψ) are the major component of infiltrating leukocytes in tumors and exhibit distinct phenotypes according to the microenvironment. We have recently found that signal regulatory protein α (SIRPα), the inhibitory molecule expressed on myeloid cells, plays a critical role in controlling innate immune activation.

Ryan M. Kwok, Dawn M. Torres, Stephen A. Harrison – 16 March 2013 – Vitamin D is a secosteroid with known effects on calcium homeostasis that has recently been shown to have other significant functions regarding immune modulation, cell differentiation and proliferation, and the inflammatory response. As our understanding of the many functions of vitamin D has grown, the presence of vitamin D deficiency (VDD) has become more evident in Western populations. Concomitantly, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become the most common cause of chronic liver disease.

Miriam B. Vos – 15 March 2013

Massimiliano Cadamuro, Giorgia Nardo, Stefano Indraccolo, Luigi Dall'Olmo, Luisa Sambado, Lidia Moserle, Irene Franceschet, Michele Colledan, Marco Massani, Tommaso Stecca, Nicolò Bassi, Stuart Morton, Carlo Spirli, Romina Fiorotto, Luca Fabris, Mario Strazzabosco – 15 March 2013 – Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is characterized by an abundant stromal reaction. Cancer‐associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are pivotal in tumor growth and invasiveness and represent a potential therapeutic target.

Jin‐Hua Sun, Min Gao, Susan Roberts, Robert Fridell – 15 March 2013

Fiona McPhee, Dennis Hernandez, Fei Yu, Joseph Ueland, Aaron Monikowski, Arlene Carifa, Paul Falk, Chunfu Wang, Robert Fridell, Timothy Eley, Nannan Zhou, David Gardiner – 15 March 2013 – In a sentinel cohort, hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients (primarily genotype [GT] 1a) were treated with daclatasvir (NS5A inhibitor) and asunaprevir (NS3 protease inhibitor). Preexistence, emergence, and persistence of resistance variants in patients who failed this treatment are described.

Sarah Larney, Hannah Kopinski, Curt G. Beckwith, Nickolas D. Zaller, Don Des Jarlais, Holly Hagan, Josiah D. Rich, Brenda J. Bergh, Louisa Degenhardt – 15 March 2013 – People detained in prisons and other closed settings are at elevated risk of infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV). We undertook a systematic review and meta‐analysis with the aim of determining the rate of incident HCV infection and the prevalence of anti‐HCV among detainees in closed settings. We systematically searched databases of peer‐reviewed literature and widely distributed a call for unpublished data.

Christophe Rodriguez, Stéphane Chevaliez, Paul Bensadoun, Jean‐Michel Pawlotsky – 15 March 2013 – Hepatitis B virus (HBV) resistance to nucleoside/nucleotide analogs is frequent. Ultra‐deep pyrosequencing (UDPS) is a powerful new tool that can detect minor viral variants and characterize complex quasispecies mixtures. We used UDPS to analyze the dynamics of adefovir‐resistant HBV variants in patients with chronic HBV infection in whom adefovir resistance occurred during treatment. Amino acid substitutions known to confer resistance to adefovir were detected at baseline in most patients.