Vijay Krishnamoorthy, Katharina Beckmann, Mark Mueller, Deepak Sharma, Monica S. Vavilala – 10 December 2012 – An elevation of the intracranial pressure (ICP) secondary to cerebral edema is a major contributor to morbidity and mortality in acute liver failure. In addition, invasive ICP monitoring in this setting is controversial because coagulopathy predisposes patients to hemorrhagic complications. In this case report, we describe the novel use of optic nerve sheath diameter monitoring as a noninvasive modality for checking for acute elevations in ICP in this setting.

Rishi Agarwal, Joseph Buell, Nathan J. Shores – 7 December 2012

Yan Wu, Dong‐Ming Kuang, Wei‐Dong Pan, Yun‐Le Wan, Xiang‐Ming Lao, Dian Wang, Xue‐Feng Li, Limin Zheng – 7 December 2012 – Defects in natural killer (NK) cell functions are necessary for tumor immune escape, but their underlying regulatory mechanisms in human cancers remain largely unknown. Here we show, in detailed studies of NK cells in 294 untreated patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), that accumulation of functional NK cells in HCC tissues could predict improved survival of patients.

Rishi Agarwal, Joseph Buell, Nathan J. Shores – 7 December 2012

Yuan Chen, Xiulong Song, Leila Valanejad, Alexander Vasilenko, Vijay More, Xi Qiu, Weikang Chen, Yurong Lai, Angela Slitt, Matthew Stoner, Bingfang Yan, Ruitang Deng – 5 December 2012 – As a canalicular bile acid effluxer, the bile salt export pump (BSEP) plays a vital role in maintaining bile acid homeostasis. BSEP deficiency leads to severe cholestasis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in young children. Regardless of the etiology, chronic inflammation is the common pathological process for HCC development.

5 December 2012

Hai‐Xiang Sun, Yang Xu, Xin‐Rong Yang, Wei‐Min Wang, Haibo Bai, Ruo‐Yu Shi, Suresh K. Nayar, Ranjan P. Devbhandari, Yi‐zhou He, Qingfeng Zhu, Yun‐Fan Sun, Bo Hu, Mehtab Khan, Robert A. Anders, Jia Fan – 5 December 2012 – Hypoxia inducible factors (HIFs) are activated in many tumors and show either promoter or suppressor activity, depending on tumor cell biology and background. However, the role of HIF member HIF‐2α remains unclear in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Anja Meier, Stefan Mehrle, Thomas S. Weiss, Walter Mier, Stephan Urban – 5 December 2012 – Chronic infection with the human hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a global health problem and a main cause of progressive liver diseases. HBV exhibits a narrow host range, replicating primarily in hepatocytes. Both host and hepatocyte specificity presumably involve specific receptor interactions on the target cell; however, direct evidence for this hypothesis is missing.

Tetsuya Hosaka, Fumitaka Suzuki, Masahiro Kobayashi, Yuya Seko, Yusuke Kawamura, Hitomi Sezaki, Norio Akuta, Yoshiyuki Suzuki, Satoshi Saitoh, Yasuji Arase, Kenji Ikeda, Mariko Kobayashi, Hiromitsu Kumada – 5 December 2012 – Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection leads to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Antiviral agents are thought to reduce HCC development, but agents such as lamivudine (LAM) have a high rate of drug resistance. We compared the incidence of HCC in 472 entecavir (ETV)‐treated patients and 1,143 nontreated HBV patients (control group).

Stephen J. Polyak, Peter Ferenci, Jean‐Michel Pawlotsky – 5 December 2012