Shaoyong Li, Lianne E.M. Vriend, Imad A. Nasser, Yury Popov, Nezam H. Afdhal, Margaret J. Koziel, Detlef Schuppan, Mark A. Exley, Nadia Alatrakchi – 14 July 2012 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV)‐specific immune effector responses can cause liver damage in chronic infection. Hepatic stellate cells (HSC) are the main effectors of liver fibrosis. TGFβ, produced by HCV‐specific CD8+ T cells, is a key regulatory cytokine modulating HCV‐specific effector T cells.

Christopher H. Remien, Frederick R. Adler, Terry D. Box, Lindsey Waddoups, Norman L. Sussman – 14 July 2012

Drren G. Craig, Kenneth J. Simpson – 14 July 2012

Brent A. Neuschwander‐Tetri, David Q.‐H. Wang – 14 July 2012

Ching‐Lung Lai, Man‐Fung Yuen – 13 July 2012 – Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection is the major cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Primary prevention of hepatitis B infection by vaccination is effective in reducing the incidence of HCC. In persons with CHB infection, the two accepted treatment modalities are interferon alpha (IFN‐α) given subcutaneously for a limited period and nucleoside/nucleotide analogs given orally on a long‐term basis. These treatments are effective in suppressing viral activity and improving disease markers in short‐term studies.

Andrew Aronsohn, Donald Jensen – 13 July 2012

Mei Huang, Rui Sun, Haiming Wei, Zhigang Tian – 13 July 2012 – NKG2D activation plays an important role in initiating and maintaining liver inflammation, and blockade of NKG2D recognition becomes a promising approach to alleviate liver inflammation. Treatment by silencing NKG2D ligands on hepatocytes, but not NKG2D on circulating immune cells, is more liver‐specific, and simultaneous knockdown of multiple NKG2D ligands on hepatocytes will be more efficient in liver disease intervention.

Chia‐Yang Hsu, Yun‐Hsuan Lee, Cheng‐Yuan Hsia, Yi‐Hsiang Huang, Chien‐Wei Su, Han‐Chieh Lin, Rheun‐Chuan Lee, Yi‐You Chiou, Fa‐Yauh Lee, Teh‐Ia Huo – 13 July 2012

Jasmohan S. Bajaj, Jacqueline G. O'Leary, K. Rajender Reddy, Florence Wong, Jody C. Olson, Ram M. Subramanian, Geri Brown, Nicole A. Noble, Leroy R. Thacker, Patrick S. Kamath,, on behalf of NACSELD – 13 July 2012 – Bacterial infections are an important cause of mortality in cirrhosis, but there is a paucity of multicenter studies. The aim was to define factors predisposing to infection‐related mortality in hospitalized patients with cirrhosis. A prospective, cohort study of patients with cirrhosis with infections was performed at eight North American tertiary‐care hepatology centers.

Naoko Kamo, Bibo Ke, Ronald W. Busuttil, Jerzy W. Kupiec‐Weglinski – 13 July 2012 – The phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN) regulates innate immune responses inversely with phosphoinositide 3‐kinase (PI3K) and its direct downstream target gene, Akt. The Forkhead box O (Foxo) transcription factors are essential in the regulation of tissue development, immune homeostasis, and cell survival.