Susanne Hagist, Holger Sültmann, Gunda Millonig, Ulrike Hebling, Dörthe Kieslich, Rupert Kuner, Sabrina Balaguer, Helmut‐Karl Seitz, Annemarie Poustka, Sebastian Mueller – 28 January 2009 – Iron in association with reactive oxygen species (ROS) is highly toxic, aggravating oxidative stress reactions. Increased iron not only plays an important role in the progression of hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) but also in common liver diseases such as chronic hepatitis C. The underlying mechanisms of hepatitis C virus (HCV)‐mediated iron accumulation, however, are poorly understood.

Patrick G. Northup, Michael M. Abecassis, Michael J. Englesbe, Jean C. Emond, Vanessa D. Lee, George J. Stukenborg, Lan Tong, Carl L. Berg, Adult‐to‐Adult Living Donor Liver Transplantation Cohort Study Group – 28 January 2009 – Using outcomes data from the Adult‐to‐Adult Living Donor Liver Transplantation Cohort Study, we performed a cost‐effectiveness analysis exploring the costs and benefits of living donor liver transplantation (LDLT).

Dou‐Sheng Bai, Zhi Dai, Jian Zhou, Yin‐Kun Liu, Shuang‐Jian Qiu, Chang‐Jun Tan, Ying‐Hong Shi, Cheng Huang, Zheng Wang, Yi‐Feng He, Jia Fan – 28 January 2009 – Liver transplantation (LT) is one of the best therapeutic options for nonresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Unfortunately, some HCC patients succumb to the disease after LT, which reduces long‐ and medium‐term survival.

Yun Ku Cho, Jae Kyun Kim, Mi Young Kim, Hyunchul Rhim, Joon Koo Han – 28 January 2009 – According to the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases guidelines, percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI) is a safe and highly effective treatment for small hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) and should be the standard against which any new therapy is compared. The primary purpose of this study was to identify survival benefit of any percutaneous ablation therapy as compared with PEI in the treatment of patients with unresectable HCC.

Weici Zhang, Rahul Sharma, Shyr‐Te Ju, Xiao‐Song He, Yanyan Tao, Koichi Tsuneyama, Zhigang Tian, Zhe‐Xiong Lian, Shu Man Fu, M. Eric Gershwin – 28 January 2009 – There have been several descriptions of mouse models that manifest select immunological and clinical features of autoimmune cholangitis with similarities to primary biliary cirrhosis in humans. Some of these models require immunization with complete Freund's adjuvant, whereas others suggest that a decreased frequency of T regulatory cells (Tregs) facilitates spontaneous disease.

Sven A. Lang, Christian Moser, Stefan Fichnter‐Feigl, Philipp Schachtschneider, Claus Hellerbrand, Volker Schmitz, Hans J. Schlitt, Edward K. Geissler, Oliver Stoeltzing – 28 January 2009 – Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains associated with a poor prognosis, but novel targeted therapies in combination with anti‐angiogenic substances may offer new perspectives. We hypothesized that simultaneous targeting of tumor cells, endothelial cells, and pericytes would reduce growth and angiogenesis of HCC, which represents a highly vascularized tumor entity.

Jerome M. Laurence, Chuanmin Wang, Maolin Zheng, Sharon Cunningham, John Earl, Szun Szun Tay, Richard D. M. Allen, Geoffrey W. McCaughan, Ian E. Alexander, G. Alex Bishop, Alexandra F. Sharland – 28 January 2009 – The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of local overexpression of indoleamine dioxygenase (IDO) to abrogate rat liver transplant rejection by the use of an adeno‐associated virus vector [recombinant adeno‐associated virus 2/8 (rAAV2/8)] to deliver the transgene to the allograft prior to transplantation.

Robert Perrillo – 28 January 2009 – Prophylactic therapy is generally used to prevent reactivated hepatitis B after transplantation of an antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (anti‐HBc)–positive liver. To gain insight into current practice, a questionnaire was e‐mailed to 89 liver transplant physicians in the United States, Europe, and Asia/Australia and 4 hepatitis B experts. Addressees were asked if they prefer lamivudine or other nucleoside analogs and whether these drugs are used indefinitely.

Darrell H. G. Crawford, Therese L. Murphy, Louise E. Ramm, Linda M. Fletcher, Andrew D. Clouston, Gregory J. Anderson, V. Nathan Subramaniam, Lawrie W. Powell, Grant A. Ramm – 28 January 2009 – Diagnosing the presence of cirrhosis is crucial for the management of patients with C282Y hereditary hemochromatosis (HH). HH patients with serum ferritin >1,000 μg/L are at risk of cirrhosis; however, the majority of these patients do not have cirrhosis.

Zhaoli Sun, Xiuying Zhang, Jayme E. Locke, Qizhi Zheng, Shingo Tachibana, Anna Mae Diehl, George Melville Williams – 28 January 2009 – Despite major histocompatibility complex incompatibility, liver transplants from Lewis rats to dark agouti (DA) rats survive indefinitely without immunosuppression, and the studies we report sought the mechanism(s) responsible for this. At 1 year, most of the liver reacted positively to host anti‐DA antibody. When small (50%) grafts were transplanted, recruitment was more rapid because most of the organ assumed the host phenotype at 3 months.