Gareth J. Sullivan, David C. Hay, In‐Hyun Park, Judy Fletcher, Zara Hannoun, Catherine M. Payne, Donna Dalgetty, James R. Black, James A. Ross, Kay Samuel, Gang Wang, George Q. Daley, Je‐Hyuk Lee, George M. Church, Stuart J. Forbes, John P. Iredale, Ian Wilmut – 23 December 2009 – With the advent of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology, it is now feasible to generate iPSCs with a defined genotype or disease state.

Yosuke Osawa, Ekihiro Seki, Masayuki Adachi, Atsushi Suetsugu, Hiroyasu Ito, Hisataka Moriwaki, Mitsuru Seishima, Masahito Nagaki – 23 December 2009 – Kupffer cells, resident tissue macrophages of the liver, play a key role in the regulation of hepatic inflammation, hepatocyte death, and fibrosis that characterize liver diseases. However, it is controversial whether Kupffer cells promote or protect from liver injury.

Alessandro Vitale, Michael L. Volk, Davide Pastorelli, Sara Lonardi, Fabio Farinati, Patrizia Burra, Paolo Angeli, Umberto Cillo – 23 December 2009 – The role of bridging therapies for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) on the waiting list for liver transplantation (LT) remains controversial. There is strong evidence to support the effectiveness of sorafenib in extending the time to progression of HCC.

Jian Zhao, Guobin Wu, Fangfang Bu, Bin Lu, Anmin Liang, Lei Cao, Xin Tong, Xin Lu, Mengchao Wu, Yajun Guo – 23 December 2009 – The ankyrin‐repeat–containing, SH3‐domain–containing, and proline‐rich‐region–containing protein (ASPP) family of proteins regulates apoptosis through interaction with p53 and its family members. This study evaluated the epigenetic regulation of ASPP1 and ASPP2 in hepatitis B virus (HBV)‐positive hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and explores the effects of down‐regulation of ASPP1 and ASPP2 on the development of HCC.

Evangelos Cholongitas, Andrew K. Burroughs – 23 December 2009

Ana Moreno, María J. Pérez‐Elías, José L. Casado, Jesús Fortún, Rafael Bárcena, Carmen Quereda, Santos del Campo, Carmen Gutiérrez, Oscar Pastor, Javier Nuño, Ana Fernandez, Santiago Moreno – 16 December 2009

Kanthi Yalamanchili, Sherif Saadeh, Göran B. Klintmalm, Linda W. Jennings, Gary L. Davis – 16 December 2009 – Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) may account for many cases of cryptogenic cirrhosis. If so, then steatosis might recur after liver transplantation. Two thousand fifty‐two patients underwent primary liver transplantation for chronic liver disease between 1986 and 2004. Serial liver biopsy samples were assessed for steatosis and fibrosis. Two hundred fifty‐seven patients (12%) had a pretransplant diagnosis of cryptogenic cirrhosis (239) or NASH (18).

Guodong Xu, Linyan Wang, Wei Chen, Fei Xue, Xueli Bai, Liang Liang, Xuning Shen, Mangli Zhang, Dajing Xia, Tingbo Liang – 16 December 2009 – Acute graft‐versus‐host disease (aGVHD) is a serious complication of liver transplantation (LTx); it occurs in 1% to 2% of liver allograft recipients. The condition has a poor prognosis and poses major diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. A rat model of aGVHD after LTx has been developed, and a relative decrease in regulatory T (Treg) cells has been shown to be associated with this model.

Hanna C. Hermann, Burghard F. Klapp, Gerhard Danzer, Christina Papachristou – 16 December 2009 – Living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) has developed into an important therapeutic option for liver diseases. For living donor kidney transplantation (LDKT), gender‐specific differences have been observed among both donors (two‐thirds being women and one‐third being men) and recipients (two‐thirds being men and one‐third being women). The aim of this study was to determine whether there is a gender disparity for LDLT.

Joao Seda Neto, Eduardo Carone, Renata P. S. Pugliese, Eduardo A. Fonseca, Gilda Porta, Irene Miura, Vera B. Danesi, Teresa C. Guimaraes, Andre L. Godoy, Adriana Porta, Rodrigo Vincenzi, Francisco Carnevale Filho, Mario Kondo, Paulo Chapchap – 15 December 2009 – The Pediatric End‐Stage Liver Disease (PELD) scoring system is a formula developed to provide a continuous numerical assessment of the risk of death in order to allocate livers to children in need of transplantation. The PELD scoring system was introduced in Brazil in July 2006.