Jannes Woudenberg, Krzysztof P. Rembacz, Fiona A. J. van den Heuvel, Titia E. Woudenberg‐Vrenken, Manon Buist‐Homan, Mariska Geuken, Mark Hoekstra, Leo E. Deelman, Carlos Enrich, Rob H. Henning, Han Moshage, Klaas Nico Faber – 22 April 2010 – Caveolae are a subtype of cholesterol‐enriched lipid microdomains/rafts that are routinely detected as vesicles pinching off from the plasma membrane. Caveolin‐1 is an essential component of caveolae. Hepatic caveolin‐1 plays an important role in liver regeneration and lipid metabolism.

Jin‐Kyu Park, Mi‐Ran Ki, Hye‐Rim Lee, Il‐Hwa Hong, Ae‐Ri Ji, Akihito Ishigami, Se‐Il Park, Ji‐Min Kim, Hae‐Young Chung, Sung‐Eun Yoo, Kyu‐Shik Jeong – 22 April 2010 – Senescence marker protein 30 (SMP30), an important aging marker molecule that is highly expressed in the liver, has been known to protect hepatocytes from apoptosis by the synthesis of vitamin C. To explore the function of SMP30 in liver fibrosis, the effect of SMP30 deficiency on liver fibrosis was investigated in SMP30 knockout (KO) mice.

Shinya Ueki, Rajeev Dhupar, Jon Cardinal, Allan Tsung, Junichi Yoshida, Kikumi S. Ozaki, John R. Klune, Noriko Murase, David A. Geller – 22 April 2010 – Interferon regulatory factor‐1 (IRF‐1) is a transcription factor that regulates gene expression during immunity. We hypothesized that IRF‐1 plays a pivotal role in liver transplant (LTx) ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Mouse orthotopic LTx was conducted after 24 hours cold storage in University of Wisconsin (UW) solution in wildtype (WT) C57BL/6 and IRF‐1 knockout (KO) mice.

Malika Ait‐Goughoulte, Arup Banerjee, Keith Meyer, Budhaditya Mazumdar, Kousuke Saito, Ratna B. Ray, Ranjit Ray – 22 April 2010 – Fibrinogen‐β (FBG‐β), an important acute‐phase protein (APP), is generated by the liver as a target for inflammatory mediators. Here we identified FBG‐β as a hepatitis C virus (HCV) core interacting protein by screening a human liver complementary DNA (cDNA) library using mammalian two‐hybrid analysis.

Jian‐Mei Li, Yu‐Cheng Li, Ling‐Dong Kong, Qing‐Hua Hu – 22 April 2010 – High consumption of dietary fructose is an important contributory factor in the development of hepatic steatosis in insulin or leptin resistance. We investigated the effects of curcumin on fructose‐induced hypertriglyceridemia and liver steatosis and explored its preventive mechanisms in rats. Curcumin reduced serum insulin and leptin levels in fructose‐fed rats.

Ramesh Kumar, Shalimar, Vikram Bhatia, Shankar Khanal, V. Sreenivas, S. Datta Gupta, Subrat K. Panda, Subrat K. Acharya – 22 April 2010 – Antituberculosis therapy (ATT)–associated acute liver failure (ATT‐ALF) is the commonest drug‐induced ALF in South Asia. Prospective studies on ATT‐ALF are lacking. The current study prospectively evaluated the magnitude, clinical course, outcome, and prognostic factors in ATT‐ALF. From January 1986 to January 2009, 1223 consecutive ALF patients were evaluated: ATT alone was the cause in 70 (5.7%) patients.

Nicole M. Walker, Katherine A. Stuart, Rebecca J. Ryan, Shireena Desai, Sammy Saab, Jennifer A. Nicol, Linda M. Fletcher, Darrell H. G. Crawford – 22 April 2010 – Additional markers are required to identify patients on the orthotopic liver transplant (OLT) waiting list at increased risk of death and adverse clinical events. Serum ferritin concentration is a marker of varied pathophysiological events and is elevated with increased liver iron concentration, hepatic necroinflammation, and systemic illness, all of which may cause a deterioration in liver function and clinical status.

Roderick H. J. Houwen, Francisca H. H. Linn, Karel J. van Erpecum – 22 April 2010

Galia Askarieh, Åsa Alsiö, Paolo Pugnale, Francesco Negro, Carlo Ferrari, Avidan U. Neumann, Jean‐Michel Pawlotsky, Solko W. Schalm, Stefan Zeuzem, Gunnar Norkrans, Johan Westin, Jonas Söderholm, Kristoffer Hellstrand, Martin Lagging, DITTO‐HCV and NORDynamIC Study Groups – 22 April 2010 – High systemic levels of interferon‐gamma‐inducible protein 10 kDa (IP‐10) at onset of combination therapy for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection predict poor outcome, but details regarding the impact of IP‐10 on the reduction of HCV RNA during therapy remain unclear.

Mark H. Kuniholm, Andrea Kovacs, Xiaojiang Gao, Xiaonan Xue, Darlene Marti, Chloe L. Thio, Marion G. Peters, Norah A. Terrault, Ruth M. Greenblatt, James J. Goedert, Mardge H. Cohen, Howard Minkoff, Stephen J. Gange, Kathryn Anastos, Melissa Fazzari, Tiffany G. Harris, Mary A. Young, Howard D. Strickler, Mary Carrington – 22 April 2010 – Studies of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles and their relation with hepatitis C virus (HCV) viremia have had conflicting results. However, these studies have varied in size and methods, and few large studies assessed HLA class I alleles.