Haibo Bai, Nailing Zhang, Yang Xu, Qian Chen, Mehtab Khan, James J. Potter, Suresh K. Nayar, Toby Cornish, Gianfranco Alpini, Steven Bronk, Duojia Pan, Robert A. Anders – 8 August 2012 – Human chronic cholestatic liver diseases are characterized by cholangiocyte proliferation, hepatocyte injury, and fibrosis. Yes‐associated protein (YAP), the effector of the Hippo tumor‐suppressor pathway, has been shown to play a critical role in promoting cholangiocyte and hepatocyte proliferation and survival during embryonic liver development and hepatocellular carcinogenesis.

Andrea F. DiMartini, Mary Amanda Dew – 6 August 2012

Natasha Chandok, Kymberly D. Watt – 6 August 2012 – Recipients of liver transplantation (LT) have a higher overall risk (2‐3 times on average) of developing de novo malignancies than the general population, with standardized incidence ratios ranging from 1.0 for breast and prostate cancers to 3‐4 for colon cancer and up to 12 for esophageal and oropharyngeal cancers.

Andre C. Kalil, Cezarina Mindru, Jean F. Botha, Wendy J. Grant, David F. Mercer, Marco A. Olivera, Megan A. McCartan, Timothy M. McCashland, Alan N. Langnas, Diana F. Florescu – 6 August 2012 – Valganciclovir (VGC) was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2004 as cytomegalovirus (CMV) prophylaxis except for liver transplant recipients because of their high incidence of CMV disease with this drug. However, surveys have shown its common off‐label use for CMV prophylaxis in liver transplant recipients.

Leona Kim‐Schluger, Sander Florman – 6 August 2012

Marion Maurel, Sandra Jalvy, Yannick Ladeiro, Chantal Combe, Laetitia Vachet, Francis Sagliocco, Paulette Bioulac‐Sage, Vincent Pitard, Hélène Jacquemin‐Sablon, Jessica Zucman‐Rossi, Benoît Laloo, Christophe F. Grosset – 3 August 2012 – Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the major primary liver cancer. Glypican‐3 (GPC3), one of the most abnormally expressed genes in HCC, participates in liver carcinogenesis.

M. Behnan Sahin – 1 August 2012

Jennifer E. Lambert, Vincent G. Bain, Edmond A. Ryan, Alan B.R. Thomson, Michael T. Clandinin – 1 August 2012 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV) exerts a profound influence on host lipid metabolism. It has been suggested that the synthesis of both fatty acids (FA) and cholesterol is dysregulated in HCV but this has not been directly quantified in humans. The purpose of this study was to measure lipogenesis and cholesterol synthesis using stable isotopes in patients with HCV (n = 5) and healthy control (n = 9) subjects recruited from the University of Alberta hospital.

Holger Gohlke, Birte Schmitz, Annika Sommerfeld, Roland Reinehr, Dieter Häussinger – 1 August 2012 – Ursodeoxycholic acid, which in vivo is converted to its taurine conjugate tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDC), is a mainstay for the treatment of cholestatic liver disease. Earlier work showed that TUDC exerts its choleretic properties in the perfused rat liver in an α5β1 integrin‐mediated way. However, the molecular basis of TUDC‐sensing in the liver is unknown.

Mary Ann Simpson, Elizabeth A. Pomfret – 1 August 2012 – Key Points