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.

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.

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.

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.

Deficiency of liver adipose triglyceride lipase in mice causes progressive hepatic steatosis

Jiang Wei Wu, Shu Pei Wang, Fernando Alvarez, Stéphanie Casavant, Nicolas Gauthier, Lynda Abed, Krishnakant G. Soni, Gongshe Yang, Grant A. Mitchell – 4 April 2011 – Accumulation of cytoplasmic triacylglycerol (TG) underlies hepatic steatosis, a major cause of cirrhosis. The pathways of cytoplasmic TG metabolism are not well known in hepatocytes, but evidence suggests an important role in lipolysis for adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL). We created mice with liver‐specific inactivation of Pnpla2, the ATGL gene.

Methodological concerns about a recent meta‐analysis of the influence of the I148M variant of patatin‐like phospholipase domain containing 3 on the susceptibility and histological severity of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

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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