Wei Zhong, Wei‐Feng Shen, Bei‐Fang Ning, Ping‐Fang Hu, Yong Lin, Hai‐Yan Yue, Chuan Yin, Jun‐Liang Hou, Yue‐Xiang Chen, Jun‐Ping Zhang, Xin Zhang, Wei‐Fen Xie – 29 October 2009 – Extracellular signal‐regulated kinase 1 (ERK1) is a critical part of the mitogen‐activated protein kinase signal transduction pathway, which is involved in hepatic fibrosis. However, the effect of down‐regulation of ERK1 on hepatic fibrosis has not been reported. Here, we induced hepatic fibrosis in rats with dimethylnitrosamine administration or bile duct ligation.

Francisca H. H. Linn, Roderick H. J. Houwen, Jan van Hattum, Stefan van der Kleij, Karel J. van Erpecum – 29 October 2009 – Exclusive monotherapy with zinc in symptomatic Wilson disease is controversial. Seventeen symptomatic patients with Wilson disease were treated with zinc only. The mean age at diagnosis and start of treatment was 18 years (range 13–26) with approximately half presenting as adolescents. Presentation was exclusively hepatic, exclusively neurologic, and combined in seven, five, and five patients, respectively. The median follow‐up was 14 years (range 2–30).

Rafal P. Witek, W. Carl Stone, F. Gamze Karaca, Wing‐Kin Syn, Thiago A. Pereira, Kolade M. Agboola, Alessia Omenetti, Youngmi Jung, Vanessa Teaberry, Steve S. Choi, Cynthia D. Guy, John Pollard, Peter Charlton, Anna Mae Diehl – 29 October 2009 – Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a potentially progressive liver disease that culminates in cirrhosis. Cirrhosis occurs more often in individuals with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) than in those with steatosis (nonalcoholic fatty liver [NAFL]).

Sylvie Deuffic‐Burban, Gérard Babany, Isabelle Lonjon‐Domanec, Pierre Deltenre, Valérie Canva‐Delcambre, Sébastien Dharancy, Alexandre Louvet, Françoise Roudot‐Thoraval, Philippe Mathurin – 29 October 2009 – Clinicians continue to raise questions concerning the necessity of treating chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV)‐infected patients with normal alanine aminotransferase (N‐ALT), in light of their slower progression to cirrhosis than patients with elevated alanine aminotraferase (E‐ALT).

Eleonora Patsenker, Yury Popov, Felix Stickel, Vreni Schneider, Monika Ledermann, Hans Sägesser, Gerald Niedobitek, Simon L. Goodman, Detlef Schuppan – 29 October 2009 – The vitronectin receptor integrin αvβ3 promotes angiogenesis by mediating migration and proliferation of endothelial cells, but also drives fibrogenic activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) in vitro. Expecting antifibrotic synergism, we studied the effect of αvβ3 inhibition in two in vivo models of liver fibrogenesis.

Ranjeeta Bahirwani, K. Rajender Reddy – 29 October 2009 – Key Points

Michael W. Fried, Peter Button, Teerha Piratvisuth, George K. K. Lau, Patrick Marcellin, Wan‐Cheng Chou, Graham Cooksley, Kang‐Xian Luo, Seung Woon Paik, Yun‐Fan Liaw, Matei Popescu – 29 October 2009

Anthony J. Demetris – 29 October 2009 – Key Points

Jaime Chu, Kirsten C. Sadler – 29 October 2009 – There is significant overlap in the genes and pathways that control liver development and those that regulate liver regeneration, hepatic progenitor cell expansion, response to injury, and cancer. Additionally, defects in liver development may underlie some congenital and perinatal liver diseases. Thus, studying hepatogenesis is important for understanding not only how the liver forms, but also how it functions.

Xiuda Shen, Yue Wang, Feng Gao, Feng Ren, Ronald W. Busuttil, Jerzy W. Kupiec‐Weglinski, Yuan Zhai – 29 October 2009 – Although the role of CD4 T cells in tissue inflammation and organ injury resulting from ischemia and reperfusion injury (IRI) has been well documented, it remains unclear how CD4 T cells are activated and function in the absence of a specific antigen (Ag). We used a murine liver warm IRI model to determine first whether de novo Ag‐specific CD4 T cell activation was required and then what its functional mechanism was.