Umid M. Sharapov, Lisa R. Bulkow, Susan E. Negus, Philip R. Spradling, Chriss Homan, Jan Drobeniuc, Michael Bruce, Saleem Kamili, Dale J. Hu, Brian J. McMahon – 28 February 2012 – Persistence of seropositivity conferred by hepatitis A vaccine administered to children <2 years of age is unknown and passively transferred maternal antibodies to hepatitis A virus (maternal anti‐HAV) may lower the infant's immune response to the vaccine.

Jessy Cattelan, Evelyne Racadot, Vincent Di Martino, Thierry Thevenot – 28 February 2012

Shujuan Chen, Mei‐Fei Yueh, Ronald M. Evans, Robert H. Tukey – 28 February 2012 – In humanized UDP glucuronosyltransferase‐1 (hUGT1) mice that express the entire UGT1 locus, the maternal hepatic UGT1A genes are dramatically induced 12‐14 days after conception. Steroid induction of the UGT1A1 gene indicates that xenobiotic sensors, such as the pregnane X receptor (PXR) and constitutive androstane receptor (CAR), may underlie the induction process. In contrast, neonatal hUGT1 mice display severe hyperbilirubinemia, with limited expression of the UGT1A genes.

Praveen Sharma, Anil Arora – 28 February 2012

Mi‐Suk Park, Sooah Kim, Jignesh Patel, Cristina H. Hajdu, Richard K. G. Do, Lorenzo Mannelli, James S. Babb, Bachir Taouli – 28 February 2012 – This study evaluates the performance of diffusion‐weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) for the detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in pre–liver transplantation patients, compared and combined with contrast‐enhanced T1‐weighted imaging (CET1WI), using liver explant as the standard of reference.

Ju Dong Yang, W. Ray Kim, Kyung Woo Park, Roongruedee Chaiteerakij, Bohyun Kim, Schuyler O. Sanderson, Joseph J. Larson, Rachel A. Pedersen, Terry M. Therneau, Gregory J. Gores, Lewis R. Roberts, Joong‐Won Park – 28 February 2012 – Survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is determined by the extent of the tumor and the underlying liver function. We aimed to develop a survival model for HCC based on objective parameters including the Model for Endstage Liver Disease (MELD) as a gauge of liver dysfunction.

Sandy Leung‐Kuen Au, Carmen Chak‐Lui Wong, Joyce Man‐Fong Lee, Dorothy Ngo‐Yin Fan, Felice Hoching Tsang, Irene Oi‐Lin Ng, Chun‐Ming Wong – 28 February 2012 – Epigenetic alterations and microRNA (miRNA) deregulation are common in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The histone H3 lysine 27 (H3K27) tri‐methylating enzyme, enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) mediates epigenetic silencing of gene expression and is frequently up‐regulated in human cancers. In this study we aimed to delineate the implications of EZH2 up‐regulation in miRNA deregulation and HCC metastasis.

Zhen Han, Tieping Zhu, Xihong Liu, Changyong Li, Shi Yue, Xin Liu, Le Yang, Lin Yang, Liying Li – 28 February 2012 – 15‐Deoxy‐Δ12,14‐Prostaglandin J2 (15d‐PGJ2), a natural peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor gamma (PPAR‐γ) ligand, has been implicated as a new antiinflammatory compound with possible clinical applications. Based on this concept, this study was designed to evaluate the effects of 15d‐PGJ2 on bone marrow–derived monocyte/macrophage (BMM) migration, phagocytosis, and cytokine expression after liver injury using mouse models induced by cholestasis or carbon tetrachloride.

Giovanni Musso, Maurizio Cassader, Roberto Gambino – 28 February 2012

Michael R. Lucey – 24 February 2012 – Watch the video presentation of this article