Robert S. Tacke, Hai‐Chon Lee, Celeste Goh, Jeremy Courtney, Stephen J. Polyak, Hugo R. Rosen, Young S. Hahn – 27 September 2011 – Impaired T‐cell responses in chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients have been reported to be associated with the establishment of HCV persistent infection. However, the mechanism for HCV‐mediated T‐cell dysfunction is yet to be defined. Myeloid‐derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) play a pivotal role in suppressing T‐cell responses. In this study we examined the accumulation of MDSCs in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) following HCV infection.

Yixin Chen, Philip P. Wong, Lucas Sjeklocha, Clifford J. Steer, M. Behnan Sahin – 27 September 2011 – Although there have been numerous reports describing the isolation of liver progenitor cells from the adult liver, their exact origin has not been clearly defined; and the role played by mature hepatocytes as direct contributors to the hepatic progenitor cell pool has remained largely unknown. Here, we report strong evidence that mature hepatocytes in culture have the capacity to dedifferentiate into a population of adult liver progenitors without genetic or epigenetic manipulations.

Roja Barikbin, Daniel Neureiter, Jan Wirth, Annette Erhardt, Dorothee Schwinge, Johannes Kluwe, Christoph Schramm, Gisa Tiegs, Gabriele Sass – 27 September 2011 – Induction or overexpression of the heme‐degrading enzyme, heme oxygenase 1 (HO‐1), has been shown to protect mice from liver damage induced by acute inflammation. We have investigated the effects of HO‐1 induction in a mouse model of chronic liver inflammation and fibrogenesis with progression to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) (Mdr2ko; FVB.129P2‐Abcb4tm1Bor).

Pietro Majno, Riccardo Lencioni, Françoise Mornex, Nicolas Girard, Ronnie T. Poon, Daniel Cherqui – 26 September 2011

Romain Coriat, Olivier Mir, François Goldwasser, Stanislas Pol, Stanislas Chaussade – 19 September 2011

Alice Marmugi, Simon Ducheix, Frédéric Lasserre, Arnaud Polizzi, Alain Paris, Nathalie Priymenko, Justine Bertrand‐Michel, Thierry Pineau, Hervé Guillou, Pascal G.P. Martin, Laïla Mselli‐Lakhal – 19 September 2011 – Changes in lifestyle are suspected to have strongly influenced the current obesity epidemic.

Meng Y. Wang, Darryn R. Potosky, Sandeep Khurana – 19 September 2011

Waqar R. R. Farid, Qiuwei Pan, Adriaan J. P. van der Meer, Petra E. de Ruiter, Vedashree Ramakrishnaiah, Jeroen de Jonge, Jaap Kwekkeboom, Harry L. A. Janssen, Herold J. Metselaar, Hugo W. Tilanus, Geert Kazemier, Luc J.W. van der Laan – 19 September 2011 – Recent animal and human studies have highlighted the potential of hepatocyte‐derived microRNAs (HDmiRs) in serum as early, stable, sensitive, and specific biomarkers of liver injury. Their usefulness in human liver transplantation, however, has not been addressed.

Florie Borel, Ruiqi Han, Allerdien Visser, Harald Petry, Sander J.H. van Deventer, Peter L.M. Jansen, Pavlina Konstantinova, with collaboration of the Réseau Centre de Ressources Biologiques Foie (French Liver Biobanks Network), France – 19 September 2011 – Adenosine triphosphate (ATP)‐binding cassette (ABC) transporters are drug efflux pumps responsible for the multidrug resistance phenotype causing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treatment failure.

Chao Wang, Wen Yang, He‐Xin Yan, Tao Luo, Jian Zhang, Liang Tang, Fu‐Quan Wu, Hui‐Lu Zhang, Le‐Xing Yu, Long‐Yi Zheng, Yu‐Qiong Li, Wei Dong, Ya‐Qin He, Qiong Liu, Shan‐Shan Zou, Yan Lin, Liang Hu, Zhong Li, Meng‐Chao Wu, Hong‐Yang Wang – 19 September 2011 – Hepatitis B virus X (HBx) protein is implicated in hepatitis B virus (HBV)‐associated liver carcinogenesis. However, it remains unclear whether HBx‐expressing hepatic progenitor cells (HPCs) are attributed to liver tumor formation.