Reto Eggenschwiler, Tobias Cantz – 25 February 2009

Jenny O. Smith, Mitchell L. Shiffman, Martha Behnke, R. Todd Stravitz, Velimir A. Luketic, Arun J. Sanyal, Doug M. Heuman, Robert A. Fisher, Adrian H. Cotterell, Daniel G. Maluf, Marc P. Posner, Richard K. Sterling – 25 February 2009 – Orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) is the only effective treatment for end‐stage liver disease. Although most patients do well and are discharged promptly, some require prolonged length of stay (PLOS). The prevalence of PLOS, associated factors, and their impact on survival are not well defined.

Feng Li, Kristin L. Mekeel, Mackam Eleid, M.E. Harrison, K. Sudhakar Reddy, Adyr A. Moss, David C. Mulligan – 25 February 2009

Valérie Paradis, Stéphane Zalinski, Emna Chelbi, Nathalie Guedj, Françoise Degos, Valérie Vilgrain, Pierre Bedossa, Jacques Belghiti – 24 February 2009 – Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a newly identified risk factor in chronic liver disease (CLD) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The aim of this study was to analyze the pathological characteristics of HCC and nontumoral liver in patients with MS as the only risk factor for liver disease in comparison with those that developed in the course of other CLDs in order to provide further insight into the physiopathology of HCC associated with MS.

Kinji Asahina, Shirley Y. Tsai, Peng Li, Mamoru Ishii, Robert E. Maxson, Henry M. Sucov, Hidekazu Tsukamoto – 24 February 2009 – The knowledge concerning fetal hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) is scarce, and their cell lineage and functions are largely unknown. The current study isolated fetal liver mesenchymal cells from a mouse expressing β‐galactosidase under the control of Msx2 promoter by fluorescence‐activated cell sorting (FACS) and surveyed marker genes by microarray analysis.

Sara D. Sackett, Zhaodong Li, Reginald Hurtt, Yan Gao, Rebecca G. Wells, Karrie Brondell, Klaus H. Kaestner, Linda E. Greenbaum – 24 February 2009 – The liver contains a population of small bipotential facultative progenitor cells that reconstitute liver function when mature hepatocytes or cholangiocytes are unable to proliferate. Mesenchymal markers, including members of the forkhead transcription factor gene family, have been detected in hepatic progenitor cells.

Timo H.‐W. Lüdtke, Vincent M. Christoffels, Marianne Petry, Andreas Kispert – 24 February 2009 – After specification of the hepatic endoderm, mammalian liver organogenesis progresses through a series of morphological stages that culminate in the migration of hepatocytes into the underlying mesenchyme to populate the hepatic lobes. Here, we show that in the mouse the transcriptional repressor Tbx3, a member of the T‐box protein family, is required for the transition from a hepatic diverticulum with a pseudo‐stratified epithelium to a cell‐emergent liver bud.

Jinsheng Guo, Johnny Loke, Feng Zheng, Feng Hong, Steven Yea, Masayuki Fukata, Mirko Tarocchi, Olivia T. Abar, Hongjin Huang, John J. Sninsky, Scott L. Friedman – 24 February 2009 – In a recent study, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the Toll‐like receptor 4 (TLR4) gene (c.1196C>T [rs4986791, p.T399I]) emerged as conferring protection from fibrosis progression compared to a major, wild‐type (WT) CC allele (p.T399).

Hua Huang, Shizuo Akira, Manuela M. Santos – 24 February 2009 – Under normal conditions, iron is taken up by the cells through the transferrin‐mediated pathway. However, in hereditary hemochromatosis, a common iron‐overloading disorder associated with mutations in the HFE gene, iron in plasma exceeds transferrin‐binding capacity, and non–transferrin‐bound iron (NTBI) appears in the circulation of patients with iron overload. NTBI can be taken up by hepatocytes through a transferrin‐independent pathway.

Norman M. Kneteman, Anita Y. M. Howe, Tiejun Gao, Jamie Lewis, Dan Pevear, Gary Lund, Donna Douglas, David F. Mercer, D. Lorne J. Tyrrell, Frederick Immermann, Inder Chaudhary, John Speth, Stephen A. Villano, John O'Connell, Marc Collett – 24 February 2009 – Anti‐hepatitis C virus (HCV) drug development has been challenged by a lack of experience with inhibitors inclusive of in vitro, animal model, and clinical study.