Chih‐Wen Lin, Wendy M. Mars, Shirish Paranjpe, Shashikiran Donthamsetty, Vishakha S. Bhave, Liang‐I Kang, Anne Orr, William C. Bowen, Aaron W. Bell, George K. Michalopoulos – 13 May 2011 – Glypican 3 (GPC3) is a family of glycosylphosphatidylinositol‐anchored, cell‐surface heparan sulfate proteoglycans. Loss‐of‐function mutations of GPC3 cause Simpson‐Golabi‐Behmel syndrome characterized by overgrowth of multiple organs, including liver.

Haruhiko Yoshida, Yasushi Shiratori, Masatoshi Kudo, Shuichiro Shiina, Toshihiko Mizuta, Masamichi Kojiro, Kyosuke Yamamoto, Yukihiro Koike, Kenichi Saito, Nozomu Koyanagi, Takao Kawabe, Seiji Kawazoe, Haruhiko Kobashi, Hiroshi Kasugai, Yukio Osaki, Yasuyuki Araki, Namiki Izumi, Hiroko Oka, Kunihiko Tsuji, Joji Toyota, Toshihito Seki, Toshiya Osawa, Naohiko Masaki, Masao Ichinose, Masataka Seike, Akihisa Ishikawa, Yoshiyuki Ueno, Kazumi Tagawa, Ryoko Kuromatsu, Shotaro Sakisaka, Hiroshi Ikeda, Hidekatsu Kuroda, Hiroyuki Kokuryu, Tatsuya Yamashita, Isao Sakaida, Tetsuo Katamoto, Kentaro Kiku

Jingmin Shu, Betsy T. Kren, Zhilian Xia, Phillip Y.‐P. Wong, Lihua Li, Eric A. Hanse, Michael X. Min, Bingshan Li, Jeffrey H. Albrecht, Yan Zeng, Subbaya Subramanian, Clifford J. Steer – 13 May 2011 – The liver is one of the few organs that have the capacity to regenerate in response to injury. We carried out genomewide microRNA (miRNA) microarray studies during liver regeneration in rats after 70% partial hepatectomy (PH) at early and mid time points to more thoroughly understand their role. At 3, 12, and 18 hours post‐PH ∼40% of the miRNAs tested were up‐regulated.

Jeoffrey N.L. Schouten, Juan C. Garcia‐Pagan, Dominique C. Valla, Harry L.A. Janssen – 13 May 2011 – Idiopathic noncirrhotic portal hypertension (INCPH) is characterized by an increased portal venous pressure gradient in the absence of a known cause of liver disease and portal vein thrombosis. In contrast to the high prevalence of this disorder in India, INCPH is a rare disease in the Western world. The etiology of INCPH can be divided in five categories: chronic infections, exposure to medication or toxins, thrombophilia, immunological disorders, and genetic disorders.

Yanfei Chen, Fengling Yang, Haifeng Lu, Baohong Wang, Yunbo Chen, Dajiang Lei, Yuezhu Wang, Baoli Zhu, Lanjuan Li – 13 May 2011 – Liver cirrhosis is the pathologic end stage of chronic liver disease. Increasing evidence suggests that gut flora is implicated in the pathogenesis of liver cirrhosis complications. The aim of this study was to characterize the fecal microbial community in patients with liver cirrhosis in comparison with healthy individuals. We recruited 36 patients with liver cirrhosis and 24 healthy controls.

Javier Vaquero, Jean S. Campbell, Jamil Haque, Ryan S. McMahan, Kimberly J. Riehle, Renay L. Bauer, Nelson Fausto – 13 May 2011 – Partial hepatectomy (PH) consistently results in an early increase of circulating interleukin‐6 (IL‐6), which is thought to play a major role in liver regeneration. Activation of this cytokine after PH requires the adaptor protein, MyD88, but the specific MyD88‐related receptors involved remain unidentified. It is also unknown whether the magnitude of IL‐6 elevation determines the extent of subsequent hepatocyte proliferation.

Rachel A. Lindor, Keith D. Lindor – 12 May 2011

Michael R. Lucey – 12 May 2011 – Although alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is one of the most common indications for liver transplantation (LT), there are still unresolved controversies about the goals of treatment, the referral, evaluation, and selection of patients with ALD for LT, and their care after LT. It is uncertain whether there is a large unmet need for LT among patients with ALD because of the unmeasured effects of recent drinking, relapse, and recovery with abstinence in this population.

Kai Breuhahn, Gregory Gores, Peter Schirmacher – 12 May 2011

Tatsuki Mizuochi, Akihiko Kimura, Mitsuyoshi Suzuki, Isao Ueki, Hajime Takei, Hiroshi Nittono, Toshihiko Kakiuchi, Takanobu Shigeta, Seisuke Sakamoto, Akinari Fukuda, Atsuko Nakazawa, Toshiaki Shimizu, Takao Kurosawa, Mureo Kasahara – 12 May 2011 – Only 2 patients with an oxysterol 7α‐hydroxylase deficiency caused by mutations of the cytochrome P450 7B1 (CYP7B1) gene have been reported; for both, the outcome was fatal. We describe the clinical and laboratory features, the hepatic and renal histological findings, and the results of bile acid and CYP7B1 gene analyses for a third patient.