Kyoko Ishii, Yoko Yoshida, Yuji Akechi, Tomohiko Sakabe, Ren Nishio, Remina Ikeda, Kei Terabayashi, Yoshiaki Matsumi, Kazue Gonda, Hideharu Okamoto, Kazuko Takubo, Fumihito Tajima, Hiroyuki Tsuchiya, Yoshiko Hoshikawa, Akihiro Kurimasa, Akihiro Umezawa, Goshi Shiota – 15 April 2008 – Human bone marrow–derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM‐MSCs) are expected to be a potential source of cells for transplantation. Although recent reports have shown that isolated MSCs can differentiate into hepatocytes, the efficiency of differentiation is insufficient for therapeutic application.

Kengo Tomita, Yuichi Oike, Toshiaki Teratani, Takashi Taguchi, Masaaki Noguchi, Takahiro Suzuki, Akiko Mizutani, Hirokazu Yokoyama, Rie Irie, Hidetoshi Sumimoto, Atsushi Takayanagi, Kiichi Miyashita, Masaki Akao, Mitsuhisa Tabata, Gen Tamiya, Tamiko Ohkura, Toshifumi Hibi – 15 April 2008 – It is unclear how hepatic adiponectin resistance and sensitivity mediated by the adiponectin receptor, AdipoR2, contributes to the progression of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). The aim of this study was to examine the roles of hepatic AdipoR2 in NASH, using an animal model.

Juliane Karthe, Kathi Tessmann, Jisu Li, Raiki Machida, Maaike Daleman, Dieter Häussinger, Tobias Heintges – 15 April 2008 – The hepatitis C virus (HCV) core protein is essential for viral genome encapsidation and plays an important role in steatosis, immune evasion, and hepatocellular carcinoma. It may thus represent a promising therapeutic target to interfere with the HCV life‐cycle and related pathogenesis.

Lindsay D. Plank, Edward J. Gane, Szelin Peng, Carl Muthu, Sachin Mathur, Lyn Gillanders, Kerry McIlroy, Anthony J. Donaghy, John L. McCall – 15 April 2008 – Patients with liver cirrhosis exhibit early onset of gluconeogenesis after short‐term fasting. This accelerated metabolic reaction to starvation may underlie their increased protein requirements and muscle depletion. A randomized controlled trial was conducted to test the hypothesis that provision of a late‐evening nutritional supplement over a 12‐month period would improve body protein stores in patients with cirrhosis.

Masanori Seimiya, Takeshi Tomonaga, Kazuyuki Matsushita, Masahiko Sunaga, Masamichi Oh‐ishi, Yoshio Kodera, Tadakazu Maeda, Shigetsugu Takano, Akira Togawa, Hideyuki Yoshitomi, Masayuki Otsuka, Masakazu Yamamoto, Masayuki Nakano, Masaru Miyazaki, Fumio Nomura – 15 April 2008 – Early diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) greatly improves its prognosis. However, the distinction between benign and malignant tumors is often difficult, and novel immunohistochemical markers are necessary.

Laurie D. DeLeve, Xiangdong Wang, Yumei Guo – 11 April 2008 – Capillarization precedes hepatic fibrosis. We hypothesize that capillarization of sinusoidal endothelial cells (SEC) is permissive for hepatic stellate cell (HSC) activation and therefore permissive for fibrosis. We examined whether freshly isolated SECs prevent activation of HSCs and promote reversion to quiescence, and whether this effect was lost in capillarization. HSCs were cultured alone or co‐cultured with differentiated or capillarized SECs.

Gin‐Ho Lo, Wen‐Chi Chen, Chiun‐Ku Lin, Wei‐Lun Tsai, Hoi‐Hung Chan, Tai‐An Chen, Hsien‐Chung Yu, Ping‐I Hsu, Kwok‐Hung Lai – 11 April 2008 – Both medical therapy and endoscopic variceal ligation (EVL) have proven to be comparable in the prevention of variceal rebleeding. However, the long‐term results are still lacking. Our previous study enrolled 121 patients with history of esophageal variceal bleeding and randomized to receive EVL (EVL group, 60 patients) or drug therapy, nadolol plus isosorbide‐5‐mononitrate (N+I) (N+I group, 61 patients) to prevent variceal rebleeding.

Ahmed Zaid, Anna Roubtsova, Rachid Essalmani, Jadwiga Marcinkiewicz, Ann Chamberland, Josée Hamelin, Michel Tremblay, Hélène Jacques, Weijun Jin, Jean Davignon, Nabil G. Seidah, Annik Prat – 11 April 2008 – The gene encoding the proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) is linked to familial hypercholesterolemia, as are those of the low‐density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) and apolipoprotein B. PCSK9 enhances LDLR degradation, resulting in low‐density lipoprotein accumulation in plasma.

David van der Poorten, Kerry‐Lee Milner, Jason Hui, Alexander Hodge, Michael I. Trenell, James G. Kench, Roslyn London, Tony Peduto, Donald J. Chisholm, Jacob George – 11 April 2008 – Visceral obesity is intimately associated with metabolic disease and adverse health outcomes. However, a direct association between increasing amounts of visceral fat and end‐organ inflammation and scarring has not been demonstrated.

Ze‐Zhou Song – 11 April 2008