James Nelson, Kris Kowdley – 10 January 2011

Trayana Kireva, Annette Erhardt, Gisa Tiegs, Herbert Tilg, Helmut Denk, Johannes Haybaeck, Elmar Aigner, Alexander Moschen, Jörg H. Distler, Georg Schett, Jochen Zwerina – 10 January 2011 – Chronic diseases of the biliary system are common and may cause fibrosis and eventually progression to liver cirrhosis. The aim was to define a new mouse model of a cholangiopathy leading to liver fibrosis in fra‐1tg mice. Liver pathology of fra‐1tg mice was analyzed in detail by histology and flow cytometry.

Zong‐Gen Peng, Zhi‐Yun Zhao, Yan‐Ping Li, Yu‐Ping Wang, Lan‐Hu Hao, Bo Fan, Yu‐Huan Li, Yue‐Ming Wang, Yong‐Qiang Shan, Yan‐Xing Han, Yan‐Ping Zhu, Jian‐Rui Li, Xue‐Fu You, Zhuo‐Rong Li, Jian‐Dong Jiang – 10 January 2011 – Host cellular factor apolipoprotein B messenger RNA (mRNA)‐editing enzyme catalytic polypeptide‐like 3G (hA3G) is a cytidine deaminase that inhibits a group of viruses including human immunodeficiency virus‐1 (HIV‐1). In the continuation of our research on hA3G, we found that hA3G stabilizing compounds significantly inhibited hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication.

Eishiro Mizukoshi, Yasunari Nakamoto, Kuniaki Arai, Tatsuya Yamashita, Akito Sakai, Yoshio Sakai, Takashi Kagaya, Taro Yamashita, Masao Honda, Shuichi Kaneko – 10 January 2011 – Many tumor‐associated antigens (TAAs) recognized by cytotoxic T cells (CTLs) have been identified during the last two decades and some of them have been used in clinical trials. However, there are very few in the field of immunotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) because there have not been comparative data regarding CTL responses to various TAAs.

Vinay Sundaram, Deborah T. Jones, Nilesh H. Shah, Michael E. de Vera, Paulo Fontes, J. Wallis Marsh, Abhinav Humar, Jawad Ahmad – 10 January 2011 – Biliary complications remain a cause of morbidity after liver transplantation. The aim of this study was to determine whether changes in clinical practice in the era of the Model for End‐Stage Liver Disease (MELD) has affected biliary complications after liver transplantation. We retrospectively reviewed all deceased donor liver transplants at a single center.

Sebastian Pratschke, Georgios Meimarakis, Stephan Mayr, Christian Graeb, Markus Rentsch, Reinhard Zachoval, Christiane Josephine Bruns, Axel Kleespies, Karl‐Walter Jauch, Florian Loehe, Martin Kurt Angele – 10 January 2011 – Proper liver perfusion is essential for sufficient organ function after liver transplantation. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of portal and arterial blood flow on liver function and organ survival after liver transplantation.

James F. Trotter, Brenda W. Gillespie, Norah A. Terrault, Michael M. Abecassis, Robert M. Merion, Robert S. Brown, Kim M. Olthoff, Paul H. Hayashi, Carl L. Berg, Robert A. Fisher, James E. Everhart, and the Adult‐to‐Adult Living Donor Liver Transplantation Cohort Study Group – 10 January 2011 – Information on the long‐term health of living liver donors is incomplete. Because changes in standard laboratory tests may reflect the underlying health of donors, results before and after donation were examined in the Adult‐to‐Adult Living Donor Liver Transplantation Cohort Study (A2ALL).

Wen‐Horng Wang, Leo L. Studach, Ourania M. Andrisani – 10 January 2011 – Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major etiologic factor in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) pathogenesis, involving effects of chronic liver inflammation and of the weakly oncogenic HBV X protein (pX). pX‐mediated hepatocyte transformation requires Polo‐like kinase1 (Plk1) activity, but the mechanism is not fully understood.

Hong‐Shiue Chou, Ching‐Chuan Hsieh, Horng‐Ren Yang, Lianfu Wang, Yusuke Arakawa, Kathleen Brown, Qingyu Wu, Feng Lin, Marion Peters, John J. Fung, Lina Lu, Shiguang Qian – 10 January 2011 – Although organ transplants have been applied for decades, outcomes of somatic cell transplants remain disappointing, presumably due to lack of appropriate supporting stromal cells.

Feng Chen, Tomohide Hori, Norifumi Ohashi, Ann‐Marie Baine, Christopher B. Eckman, Justin H. Nguyen – 10 January 2011 – Mechanisms of brain edema in acute liver failure (ALF) are not completely understood. We recently demonstrated that matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP‐9) induces significant alterations to occludin in brain endothelial cells in vitro and in brains of mice with experimental ALF (Hepatology 2009;50:1914).