Sven Haufe, Stefan Engeli, Petra Kast, Jana Böhnke, Wolfgang Utz, Verena Haas, Mario Hermsdorf, Anja Mähler, Susanne Wiesner, Andreas L. Birkenfeld, Henrike Sell, Christoph Otto, Heidrun Mehling, Friedrich C. Luft, Juergen Eckel, Jeanette Schulz‐Menger, Michael Boschmann, Jens Jordan – 15 February 2011 – Obesity‐related hepatic steatosis is a major risk factor for metabolic and cardiovascular disease. Fat reduced hypocaloric diets are able to relieve the liver from ectopically stored lipids.

Amar Deep Sharma, Nidhi Narain, Eva‐Maria Händel, Marcus Iken, Nishant Singhal, Toni Cathomen, Michael P. Manns, Hans R. Schöler, Michael Ott, Tobias Cantz – 15 February 2011 – Death receptor‐mediated apoptosis of hepatocytes contributes to hepatitis and fulminant liver failure. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), 19‐25 nucleotide‐long noncoding RNAs, have been implicated in the posttranscriptional regulation of the various apoptotic pathways. Here we report that global loss of miRNAs in hepatic cells leads to increased cell death in a model of FAS/CD95 receptor‐induced apoptosis.

Elizabeth M. Brunt, Gregory Gores – 14 February 2011

Christophe Van Steenkiste, Jordi Ribera, Anja Geerts, Montse Pauta, Sònia Tugues, Christophe Casteleyn, Louis Libbrecht, Kim Olievier, Ben Schroyen, Hendrik Reynaert, Leo A. van Grunsven, Bram Blomme, Stephanie Coulon, Femke Heindryckx, Martine De Vos, Jean Marie Stassen, Stefan Vinckier, Jose Altamirano, Ramón Bataller, Peter Carmeliet, Hans Van Vlierberghe, Isabelle Colle, Manuel Morales‐Ruiz – 14 February 2011 – Placental growth factor (PlGF) is associated selectively with pathological angiogenesis, and PlGF blockade does not affect the healthy vasculature.

Tahany Awad, Kristian Thorlund, Goran Hauser, Davor Stimac, Mahasen Mabrouk, Christian Gluud – 14 February 2011

Tsutomu Matsubara, Naoki Tanaka, Andrew D. Patterson, Joo‐Youn Cho, Kristopher W. Krausz, Frank J. Gonzalez – 14 February 2011 – Lithocholic acid (LCA) is an endogenous compound associated with hepatic toxicity during cholestasis. LCA exposure in mice resulted in decreased serum lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) and sphingomyelin levels due to elevated lysophosphatidylcholine acyltransferase (LPCAT) and sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase (SMPD) expression.

James Fung, Ching‐Lung Lai, John Yuen, Charles Cheng, Ringo Wu, Danny Ka‐Ho Wong, Wai‐Kay Seto, Ivan Fan‐Ngai Hung, Man‐Fung Yuen – 14 February 2011 – We aimed to determine the 2‐year outcomes of entecavir followed by lamivudine in patients with undetectable viral load (<12 IU/mL) and normal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) after initial entecavir treatment for at least 6 months. Patients were randomly assigned 1:1 to continue with entecavir or switch to lamivudine. Liver biochemistry and hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA were determined at weeks 0, 4, 12, 24, 48, 72, and 96.

Shinji Shimoda, Kenichi Harada, Hiroaki Niiro, Ken Shirabe, Akinobu Taketomi, Yoshihiko Maehara, Koichi Tsuneyama, Yasuni Nakanuma, Patrick Leung, Aftab A. Ansari, M. Eric Gershwin, Koichi Akashi – 14 February 2011 – Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is characterized by chronic nonsuppurative destructive cholangitis (CNSDC) associated with destruction of small bile ducts.

Xiaoyong Zhang, Ejuan Zhang, Zhiyong Ma, Rongjuan Pei, Min Jiang, Joerg F. Schlaak, Michael Roggendorf, Mengji Lu – 14 February 2011 – MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are highly conserved small noncoding RNAs participating in regulation of various cellular processes. Viruses have been shown to utilize cellular miRNAs to increase their replication in host cells. Until now, the role of miRNAs in hepatitis B virus (HBV) replication has remained largely unknown. In this study, a number of miRNA mimics were transfected into hepatoma cell lines with HBV replication.

William D. Stuart, Rishikesh M. Kulkarni, Jerilyn K. Gray, Juozas Vasiliauskas, Mike A. Leonis, Susan E. Waltz – 11 February 2011 – Previous studies demonstrated that targeted deletion of the Ron receptor tyrosine kinase (TK) domain in mice leads to marked hepatocyte protection in a well‐characterized model of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‐induced acute liver failure in D‐galactosamine (GalN)‐sensitized mice. Hepatocyte protection in TK−/− mice was observed despite paradoxically elevated serum levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF‐α).