Norah A. Terrault – 27 April 2009 – In successful antiviral therapy of hepatitis B, drug combinations, particularly combinations without cross‐resistance, can delay or prevent the emergence of drug‐resistant mutants. Because drug‐resistant mutants are archived and may limit future therapeutic options, prevention is important for long‐term therapeutic efficacy. Additionally, combining drugs may achieve synergistic or additive antiviral effects compared with single drug therapy.

Daniel J. Tenney, Ronald E. Rose, Carl J. Baldick, Kevin A. Pokornowski, Betsy J. Eggers, Jie Fang, Michael J. Wichroski, Dong Xu, Joanna Yang, Richard B. Wilber, Richard J. Colonno – 27 April 2009 – Patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection who develop antiviral resistance lose benefits of therapy and may be predisposed to further resistance. Entecavir (ETV) resistance (ETVr) results from HBV reverse transcriptase substitutions at positions T184, S202, or M250, which emerge in the presence of lamivudine (LVD) resistance substitutions M204I/V ± L180M.

Florin M. Selaru, Alexandru V. Olaru, Takatsugu Kan, Stefan David, Yulan Cheng, Yuriko Mori, Jian Yang, Bogdan Paun, Zhe Jin, Rachana Agarwal, James P. Hamilton, John Abraham, Christos Georgiades, Hector Alvarez, Perumal Vivekanandan, Wayne Yu, Anirban Maitra, Michael Torbenson, Paul J. Thuluvath, Gregory J. Gores, Nicholas F. LaRusso, Ralph Hruban, Stephen J. Meltzer – 27 April 2009 – Cholangiocarcinomas (CCAs) are aggressive cancers, with high mortality and poor survival rates.

Xiaocong Chen, Becky M. Sebastian, Hui Tang, Megan M. McMullen, Armend Axhemi, Donald W. Jacobsen, Laura E. Nagy – 27 April 2009 – Chronic ethanol feeding decreases expression of adiponectin by adipocytes and circulating adiponectin. Adiponectin treatment during chronic ethanol feeding prevents liver injury in mice. Chronic ethanol feeding also increases oxidative and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in adipose tissue.

Manfred G. Ismair, Stephanie Häusler, Claudia A. Stuermer, Christelle Guyot, Peter J. Meier, Jürgen Roth, Bruno Stieger – 27 April 2009 – The canalicular plasma membrane is constantly exposed to bile acids acting as detergents. Bile acids are essential to mediate release of biliary lipids from the canalicular membrane. Membrane microdomains (previously called lipid rafts) are biochemically defined by their resistance to detergent solubilization at cold temperature.

Magdalena Salcedo, Margarita Rodríguez‐Mahou, Carmen Rodríguez‐Sainz, Diego Rincón, Emilio Alvarez, Jose Luis Vicario, Maria‐Vega Catalina, Ana Matilla, Cristina Ripoll, Gerardo Clemente, Rafael Bañares – 27 April 2009 – De novo autoimmune hepatitis (de novo AIH) is a rare form of graft dysfunction that develops after liver transplantation (LT) in patients transplanted for conditions other than autoimmune disorders.

Arianeb Mehrabi, Zhoobin A. Mood, Hamidreza Fonouni, Arash Kashfi, Norbert Hillebrand, Sascha A. Müller, Jens Encke, Markus W. Büchler, Jan Schmidt – 27 April 2009 – Over the past 4 decades, the surgical techniques of liver transplantation (LTx) have permanently evolved and been modified. Among these, the modified piggyback (MPB) technique by Belghiti offers specific advantages. The objective of this study was to present our single‐center experience with the MPB technique in 500 cases. Recipients' perioperative data were prospectively collected and evaluated.

Keith Lindor, Rachel Lindor – 27 April 2009

27 April 2009

Carmen Chak‐Lui Wong, Chun‐Ming Wong, Edmund Kwok‐Kwan Tung, Kwan Man, Irene Oi‐Lin Ng – 27 April 2009 – Deregulation of Rho family small guanosine triphosphatases has been implicated in human carcinogenesis. Rho‐kinases are downstream effectors of Rho guanosine triphosphatases in the regulation of cytoskeletal reorganization and cell motility. However, their functions in human cancers remain elusive. In this study, we aimed to investigate the role of Rho‐kinases in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tumor progression and invasion.