Douglas Thorburn, Kirsty Roy, Karen Wilson, David Stell, Sheila Cameron, William Wall, Peter R. Mills, David Goldberg – 23 June 2006 – The risk of hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission to surgeons is related to the HCV prevalence in the surgical patient population. As HCV‐related cirrhosis is the commonest indication for liver transplantation in Europe and North America, liver transplant surgeons are at particular risk. The prevalence of HCV infection in liver transplant surgeons is unknown.

Lucio F Pacheco‐Moreira, Marcelo Enne, Elizabeth Balbi – 23 June 2006

Vasilica Matei, Aina Rodríguez‐Vilarrupla, Ramon Deulofeu, Dolors Colomer, Mercedes Fernández, Jaime Bosch, Juan‐Carlos Garcia‐Pagán – 23 June 2006 – In cirrhosis, intrahepatic endothelial dysfunction is one of the mechanisms involved in the increased resistance to portal blood flow and therefore in the development of portal hypertension. Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) uncoupling due to deficiency of tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) results in decreased production of NO and plays a major role in endothelial dysfunction in other conditions.

Charalambos Gustav Antoniades, Philip A. Berry, Edward T. Davies, Munther Hussain, William Bernal, Diego Vergani, Julia Wendon – 23 June 2006 – Acute liver failure (ALF) shares striking similarities with septic shock where a decrease in HLA‐DR expression on monocytes is associated with disease severity and predicts outcome. We investigated monocyte HLA‐DR expression in ALF in relation to inflammatory mediator levels and clinical outcome. Monocyte HLA‐DR expression was determined in 50 patients with acetaminophen‐induced ALF (AALF) and 20 non–acetaminophen‐induced ALF (NAALF).

Raymond M. Planinsic – 23 June 2006

Barbara S. Höroldt, Marco Burattin, Bridget K. Gunson, Simon R. Bramhall, Peter Nightingale, Stefan G. Hübscher, James M. Neuberger – 23 June 2006 – The Banff schema incorporates a semiquantitative scoring system for grading of acute cellular rejection (ACR) of the liver allograft. The Banff rejection activity index (RAI) comprises 3 components scored from 0 to 3: venous endothelial inflammation (E); bile duct damage (B); and portal inflammation (P); the scores are combined to an overall score (the RAI).

Jian Zhao, Xia Zhang, Mei Shi, Hao Xu, Jun Jin, Haidong Ni, Silei Yang, Jianxin Dai, Mengchao Wu, Yajun Guo – 23 June 2006 – Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is an aggressive cancer with a poor prognosis. The specific cellular gene alterations responsible for hepatocarcinogenesis are not well known. Previous works showed that loss of TIP30, also called CC3, a putative tumor suppressor, increased the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma in mice, and some clinical samples of human HCC tissues had aberrant expression of TIP30.

Takayuki Kimata, Masahito Nagaki, Tomio Ogiso, Takafumi Naiki, Tomohiro Kato, Hisataka Moriwaki – 23 June 2006 – Cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix (ECM) plays vital roles in both morphogenesis and regulation of gene expression in cells of adult organisms. How intracellular, cytoskeletal, and signaling factors connect and communicate with the ECM is a fundamental question.

Michael Chudy, Michael Schmidt, Volker Czudai, Heinrich Scheiblauer, Sigrid Nick, Mira Mosebach, Michael Kai Hourfar, Erhard Seifried, W. Kurt Roth, Elke Grünelt, C. Micha Nübling – 23 June 2006 – An acute hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection was diagnosed in a regular apheresis (plasma/platelet) donor by the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) assay and minipool nucleic acid amplification technology (NAT). The acute infection was confirmed by detection of anti‐HBc (IgM) and anti‐HBs 2 weeks later. The donor showed no clinical symptoms and had normal alanine aminotransferase levels.

Tetsuhiro Chiba, Kaoru Kita, Yun‐Wen Zheng, Osamu Yokosuka, Hiromitsu Saisho, Atsushi Iwama, Hiromitsu Nakauchi, Hideki Taniguchi – 23 June 2006 – Recent advances in stem cell biology enable us to identify cancer stem cells in solid tumors as well as putative stem cells in normal solid organs. In this study, we applied side population (SP) cell analysis and sorting to established hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines to detect subpopulations that function as cancer stem cells and to elucidate their roles in tumorigenesis.