Marion Maurel, Jean Rosenbaum – 25 July 2012 – Drug‐induced liver injury (DILI) limits the development and application of many therapeutic compounds and presents major challenges to the pharmaceutical industry and clinical medicine. Acetaminophen‐containing compounds are among the most frequently prescribed drugs and are also the most common cause of DILI. Here we describe a pharmacological strategy that targets gap junction communication to prevent amplification of fulminant hepatic failure and acetaminophen‐induced hepatotoxicity.

Massimo Pinzani – 25 July 2012 – “Cirrhosis” is a morphologic term that has been used for almost 200 years to denote the end stage of a variety of chronic liver diseases. The term implies a condition with adverse prognosis due to the well‐known complications of portal hypertension, hepatocellular carcinoma, and liver failure. However, recent advances in the diagnosis and treatment of chronic liver diseases have changed the natural history of cirrhosis significantly.

Maria Beatriz Herrera, Valentina Fonsato, Stefania Bruno, Cristina Grange, Nicholas Gilbo, Renato Romagnoli, Ciro Tetta, Giovanni Camussi – 24 July 2012 – Liver transplantation is currently the only effective therapy for fulminant liver failure, but its use is limited by the scarcity of organs for transplantation, high costs, and lifelong immunosuppression. Here we investigated whether human liver stem cells (HLSCs) protect from death in a lethal model of fulminant liver failure induced by intraperitoneal injection of D‐galactosamine and lipopolysaccharide in SCID mice.

Wei Ma, Carmen Chak‐Lui Wong, Edmund Kwok‐Kwan Tung, Chun Ming Wong, Irene Oi‐Lin Ng – 24 July 2012 – Deregulation of Rho guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) pathways plays an important role in tumorigenesis and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). RhoE/Rnd3 belongs to an atypical subfamily of the RhoGTPase, the Rnd family, as it lacks the intrinsic GTPase activity and remains always in its active GTP‐bound form. In this study we investigated the role of RhoE in HCC.

Paolo De Simone, Lucio Caccamo, Vincenzo Scuderi, Patrizia Burra, Monica Franciosi – 24 July 2012

Yesim Erim, Mingo Beckmann, Sylvia Kroencke, Georgios C. Sotiropoulos, Andreas Paul, Wolfgang Senf, Karl‐Heinz Schulz – 24 July 2012 – In the context of living donor liver transplantation (LDLT), German transplantation law stipulates that donor candidates should primarily be relatives of the recipients or persons with distinct and close relationships. In this study, we investigated the influence of the relationship between the donor and the recipient on the donor's emotional strain before transplantation.

Talia B. Baker, Michael Abecassis, Josh Levitsky – 24 July 2012

Ylva Bonde, Torsten Plösch, Folkert Kuipers, Bo Angelin, Mats Rudling – 24 July 2012 – Secretion of cholesterol into bile is important for the elimination of cholesterol from the body. Thyroid hormone (TH) increases biliary cholesterol secretion and hepatic gene expression of adenosine triphosphate (ATP)‐binding cassette, subfamily G (WHITE), member 5 (ABCG5) and ATP‐binding cassette, subfamily G (WHITE), member 8 (ABCG8), two half‐transporters that act as a heterodimeric complex promoting sterol secretion.

Tammy T. Hshieh, Vinay Sundaram, Robert M. Najarian, Douglas W. Hanto, Seth J. Karp, Michael P. Curry – 24 July 2012

Sandra Pommey, Bo Lu, Jennifer McRae, John Stagg, Prue Hill, Evelyn Salvaris, Simon C. Robson, Anthony J.F. d'Apice, Peter J. Cowan, Karen M. Dwyer – 24 July 2012 – Ischemia‐reperfusion injury (IRI) is a major limiting event for successful liver transplantation, and CD4+ T cells and invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells have been implicated in promoting IRI. We hypothesized that hepatic overexpression of CD39, an ectonucleotidase with antiinflammatory functions, will protect liver grafts after prolonged cold ischemia.