Joshua A. Wood, Evan Colletti, Laura E. Mead, David Ingram, Christopher D. Porada, Esmail D. Zanjani, Mervin C. Yoder, Graça Almeida‐Porada – 4 April 2012 – Although the vasculogenic potential of circulating and cord blood (CB)‐derived endothelial colony‐forming cells (ECFC) has been demonstrated in vitro and in vivo, little is known about the inherent biologic ability of these cells to home to different organs and contribute to tissue‐specific cell populations.

Maria Jesus Perugorria, Caroline L. Wilson, Mujdat Zeybel, Meagan Walsh, Shilu Amin, Stuart Robinson, Steven A. White, Alastair D. Burt, Fiona Oakley, Hidekazu Tsukamoto, Derek A. Mann, Jelena Mann – 4 April 2012 – Transdifferentiation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) to a myofibroblast‐like phenotype is the pivotal event in liver fibrosis. The dramatic change in phenotype associated with transdifferentiation is underpinned by a global change in gene expression.

Tadashi Terada – 2 April 2012

Pietro Lampertico, Mauro Viganò, Cristina Cheroni, Floriana Facchetti, Federica Invernizzi, Vincenza Valveri, Roberta Soffredini, Sergio Abrignani, Raffaele De Francesco, Massimo Colombo – 2 April 2012 – Interleukin (IL)28B polymorphisms have been associated with interferon (IFN)‐induced viral clearance in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Whether this is also true for patients with the difficult‐to‐cure hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)‐negative chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is unknown.

Juanjuan Shan, Junjie Shen, Limei Liu, Feng Xia, Chuan Xu, Guangjie Duan, Yanmin Xu, Qinghua Ma, Zhi Yang, Qianzhen Zhang, Leina Ma, Jia Liu, Senlin Xu, Xiaochu Yan, Ping Bie, Youhong Cui, Xiu‐wu Bian, Cheng Qian – 2 April 2012 – Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) exhibits cellular heterogeneity and embryonic stem‐cell–related genes are preferentially overexpressed in a fraction of cancer cells of poorly differentiated tumors. However, it is not known whether or how these cancer cells contribute to tumor initiation and progression.

Zhuzhen Zhang, Fan Zhang, Xin Guo, Peng An, Yunlong Tao, Fudi Wang – 2 April 2012 – The liver is a major site of iron storage where sequestered iron can be actively mobilized for utilization when needed elsewhere in the body. Currently, hepatocyte iron efflux mechanisms and their relationships to macrophage iron recycling during the control of whole‐body iron homeostasis are unclear. We hypothesized that the iron exporter, ferroportin1 (Fpn1), is critical for both iron mobilization from hepatocytes and iron recycling from macrophages.

Elisa Callegari, Bahaeldin K. Elamin, Ferdinando Giannone, Maddalena Milazzo, Giuseppe Altavilla, Francesca Fornari, Luciano Giacomelli, Lucilla D'Abundo, Manuela Ferracin, Cristian Bassi, Barbara Zagatti, Fabio Corrà, Elena Miotto, Laura Lupini, Luigi Bolondi, Laura Gramantieri, Carlo M. Croce, Silvia Sabbioni, Massimo Negrini – 2 April 2012 – MicroRNA‐221 (miR‐221) is one of the most frequently and consistently up‐regulated microRNAs (miRNAs) in human cancer. It has been hypothesized that miR‐221 may act as a tumor promoter.

Yonghong Liu, Zhangwei Tong, Ting Li, Qiang Chen, Luting Zhuo, Wengang Li, Ray‐Chang Wu, Chundong Yu – 2 April 2012 – Chronic infection of hepatitis B virus (HBV) is closely associated with the development of human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). HBV X protein (HBx) plays a key role in the progression of HCC. We recently found that amplified in breast cancer 1 (AIB1) protein is overexpressed in 68% of human HCC specimens and promotes HCC progression by enhancing cell proliferation and invasiveness.

Moon Young Kim, Ki Tae Suk, Soon Koo Baik, Hyoun A. Kim, Young Ju Kim, Seung Hwan Cha, Hwa Ryun Kwak, Mee Yon Cho, Hong Jun Park, Hyo Keun Jeon, So Yeon Park, Bo Ra Kim, Jin Heon Hong, Ki Won Jo, Jae Woo Kim, Hyun Soo Kim, Sang Ok Kwon, Sei Jin Chang, Gwang Ho Baik, Dong Joon Kim – 2 April 2012 – The measurement of the hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) for the estimation of portal hypertension (PH) in cirrhosis has some limitations, including its invasiveness.

Xiaoni Kong, Dechun Feng, Hua Wang, Feng Hong, Adeline Bertola, Fu‐Sheng Wang, Bin Gao – 2 April 2012 – Interleukin (IL)‐22 is known to play a key role in promoting antimicrobial immunity, inflammation, and tissue repair at barrier surfaces by binding to the receptors, IL‐10R2 and IL‐22R1. IL‐22R1 is generally thought to be expressed exclusively in epithelial cells. In this study, we identified high levels of IL‐10R2 and IL‐22R1 expression on hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), the predominant cell type involved in liver fibrogenesis in response to liver damage.