Hepatocyte turnover and regeneration: Virtually a virtuoso performance

Malcolm R. Alison, Wey‐Ran Lin – 7 April 2011 – The liver and exocrine pancreas share a common structure, with functioning units (hepatic plates and pancreatic acini) connected to the ductal tree. Here we show that Sox9 is expressed throughout the biliary and pancreatic ductal epithelia, which are connected to the intestinal stem‐cell zone. Cre‐based lineage tracing showed that adult intestinal cells, hepatocytes and pancreatic acinar cells are supplied physiologically from Sox9‐expressing progenitors.

CD13: Waving the flag for a novel cancer stem cell target

Bruno Christ, Peggy Stock, Matthias M. Dollinger – 7 April 2011 – Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are generally dormant or slowly cycling tumor cells that have the ability to reconstitute tumors. They are thought to be involved in tumor resistance to chemo/radiation therapy and tumor relapse and progression. However, neither their existence nor their identity within many cancers has been well defined.

Cancer risk in chronic hepatitis B: Do genome‐wide association studies hit the mark?

Markus Casper, Frank Grünhage, Frank Lammert – 7 April 2011 – To identify susceptibility variants for hepatitis B virus (HBV)‐related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), we conducted a genome‐wide association study by genotyping 440,794 SNPs in 355 chronic HBV carriers with HCC and 360 chronic HBV carriers without HCC, all of Chinese ancestry.

Immune‐mediated hemolytic anemia in children after liver and small bowel transplantation

Piotr Czubkowski, Mike Williams, Seema Bagia, Deirdre Kelly, Girish Gupte – 5 April 2011 – Four children who underwent ABO‐compatible combined liver and small bowel transplantation developed severe immune‐mediated hemolytic anemia. The main management strategies were early and aggressive treatment with steroids, the introduction of rituximab (an anti‐CD20 monoclonal antibody), and the use of plasma exchange together with compatible but minimal blood transfusions. Three of the 4 children developed thrombi in the major vessels.

Down‐regulation of phosphatase and tensin homolog by hepatitis C virus core 3a in hepatocytes triggers the formation of large lipid droplets

Sophie Clément, Marion Peyrou, Andrea Sanchez‐Pareja, Lucie Bourgoin, Pierluigi Ramadori, David Suter, Manlio Vinciguerra, Kevin Guilloux, Stephanie Pascarella, Laura Rubbia‐Brandt, Francesco Negro, Michelangelo Foti – 4 April 2011 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV) perturbs the host's lipid metabolism and often results in hepatic steatosis. In nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, the intrahepatic down‐regulation of phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN) is a critical mechanism leading to steatosis and its progression toward fibrosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.

In vivo consequences of liver‐specific interleukin‐22 expression in mice: Implications for human liver disease progression

Ogyi Park, Hua Wang, Honglei Weng, Lionel Feigenbaum, Hai Li, Shi Yin, Sung Hwan Ki, Seong Ho Yoo, Steven Dooley, Fu‐Sheng Wang, Howard A. Young, Bin Gao – 4 April 2011 – Interleukin‐22 (IL‐22), which acts as either a proinflammatory or anti‐inflammatory cytokine in various disease models, is markedly up‐regulated in chronic liver diseases, including hepatitis B and C. In this report, we demonstrate a strong correlation between IL‐22 expression in the liver with active, inflammatory human liver disease.

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