Ángeles Ruiz‐Extremera, José Antonio Muñoz‐Gámez, María Angustias Salmerón‐Ruiz, Paloma Muñoz de Rueda, Rosa Quiles‐Pérez, Ana Gila‐Medina, Jorge Casado, Ana Belén Martín, Laura Sanjuan‐Nuñez, Ángel Carazo, Esther José Pavón, Esther Ocete‐Hita, Josefa León, Javier Salmerón – 16 March 2011 – The vertical transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV‐VT) is a major route of HCV infection in children, but the risk factors remain incompletely understood. This study analyzed the role of interleukin 28B (IL28B) in HCV‐VT and in the spontaneous clearance of HCV among infected infants.

Liang Shen – 16 March 2011

Nicholas F. LaRusso – 16 March 2011

Sang‐Oh Lee, Seung H. Kang, Rima C. Abdel‐Massih, Robert A. Brown, Raymund R. Razonable – 15 March 2011 – Bacteremia is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality after liver transplantation. The characterization of the microbiological spectrum of bacteremia after liver transplantation may help physicians in choosing the initial empirical antimicrobial therapy for patients presenting with sepsis. The clinical and microbiology records of patients who received liver transplantation from January 1997 to March 2006 were reviewed.

Jing Li, Yujing Chi, Chunjiong Wang, Jing Wu, Hang Yang, Dongjuan Zhang, Yi Zhu, Nanping Wang, Jichun Yang, Youfei Guan – 15 March 2011 – Pancreatic‐derived factor (PANDER) is a pancreatic islet‐specific cytokine that cosecretes with insulin and is important for β cell function. Here, we show that PANDER is constitutively expressed in hepatocytes, and its expression is significantly increased in steatotic livers of diabetic insulin‐resistant db/db mice and mice fed a high‐fat diet.

Peter J. Lewindon, Grant A. Ramm – 9 March 2011

Sébastien Anthérieu, Alexandra Rogue, Bernard Fromenty, André Guillouzo, Marie‐Anne Robin – 9 March 2011 – Drug‐induced liver injury occurs in general after several weeks and is often unpredictable. It is characterized by a large spectrum of lesions that includes steatosis and phospholipidosis. Many drugs such as amiodarone and tetracycline have been reported to cause phospholipidosis and/or steatosis. In this study, acute and chronic hepatic effects of these two drugs were investigated using well‐differentiated human hepatoma HepaRG cells.

Marta A. Kowalik, Christian Saliba, Monica Pibiri, Andrea Perra, Giovanna M. Ledda‐Columbano, Ivana Sarotto, Elena Ghiso, Silvia Giordano, Amedeo Columbano – 9 March 2011

María V. Espelt, Diego O. Croci, María L. Bacigalupo, Pablo Carabias, Malena Manzi, María T. Elola, Marina C. Muñoz, Fernando P. Dominici, Carlota Wolfenstein‐Todel, Gabriel A. Rabinovich, María F. Troncoso – 9 March 2011 – Galectin‐1 (Gal‐1), a widely expressed β‐galactoside–binding protein, exerts pleiotropic biological functions. Gal‐1 is up‐regulated in hepatocarcinoma cells, although its role in liver pathophysiology remains uncertain. We investigated the effects of Gal‐1 on HepG2 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell adhesion and polarization.

Hany A. Omar, Chih‐Chien Chou, Lisa D. Berman‐Booty, Yihui Ma, Jui‐Hsiang Hung, Dasheng Wang, Takayuki Kogure, Tushar Patel, Luigi Terracciano, Natarajan Muthusamy, John C. Byrd, Samuel K. Kulp, Ching‐Shih Chen – 9 March 2011 – Accumulating evidence suggests the therapeutic potential of the immunosuppressive agent FTY720 (fingolimod) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).