Thorsten G. Lehmann, Tom Luedde, Robert F. Schwabe, Hartwig Bunzendahl, R. Jude Samulski, John J. Lemasters, David A. Brenner – 22 March 2006 – Transplantation of reduced‐size livers may lead to a hypermetabolic state and increased production of oxygen radicals. Since oxygen radicals may cause liver injury and impair liver regeneration, we tested the hypothesis that overexpression of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in reduced‐size livers (RSL) would accelerate regeneration and reduce injury in a rat model of transplantation of RSL.

Matteo Cescon, Gian Luca Grazi, Alberto Grassi, Matteo Ravaioli, Gaetano Vetrone, Giorgio Ercolani, Giovanni Varotti, Antonietta D'Errico, Giorgio Ballardini, Antonio Daniele Pinna – 22 March 2006 – The effect of ischemic preconditioning (IPC) in orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) has not yet been clarified. We performed a pilot study to evaluate the effects of IPC in OLT by comparing the outcomes of recipients of grafts from deceased donors randomly assigned to receive (IPC+ group, n = 23) or not (IPC− group, n = 24) IPC (10‐min ischemia + 15‐min reperfusion).

Yasuro Futagawa, Kayo Waki, Junchao Cai – 22 March 2006 – We investigated an association of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)‐DR13 to graft survival in liver transplantation among Caucasian recipients. 28,708 deceased liver transplants performed between January 1990 and December 2002 in the United States as reported to the United Network for Organ Sharing registry were utilized to compare survival rates. We utilized Caucasian adult patients (>20 years) by Kaplan‐Meier curves, log‐rank tests, and Cox proportional hazard analyses.

Sandy Feng, Ming Si, Sarah E. Taranto, Maureen A. McBride, Christine Mudge, Susan Stritzel, John P. Roberts, Philip Rosenthal – 22 March 2006 – During the last 10 to 15 years, medical and surgical innovations have established pediatric liver transplantation as the optimal therapy for children suffering acute and chronic liver disease. We hypothesized that the profile of current pediatric liver transplant recipients would differ significantly from that of an earlier era.

Silvia Riva, Aurelio Sonzogni, Michela Bravi, Alessandro Bertani, Maria Grazia Alessio, Manila Candusso, Paola Stroppa, Maria L. Melzi, Marco Spada, Bruno Gridelli, Michele Colledan, Giuliano Torre – 22 March 2006 – Late graft dysfunction (GD) associated with the development of autoantibodies is a common event after pediatric liver transplantation (OLTx) and can present in 2 clinicohistological subsets: de novo autoimmune hepatitis (DNAH) and early chronic rejection (ECR). Sixty out of 247 children developed autoantibodies after OLTx.

Xiao Xu, Kwan Man, Shu Sen Zheng, Ting Bo Liang, Terence K. Lee, Kevin T. Ng, Sheung Tat Fan, Chung Mau Lo – 22 March 2006 – The major concern of living donor liver transplantation is small‐for‐size graft injury at the early phase after transplantation. Novel therapeutic strategies should be developed. To investigate the protective effect of somatostatin related to hemodynamic stress on small‐for‐size liver graft injury, we applied a treatment regimen of low‐dose somatostatin in a rat orthotopic liver transplantation model using small‐for‐size grafts (median, 38.7%; range, 35–42%).

Victor W. Xia, Bin Du, Michelle Braunfeld, Gundappa Neelakanta, Ke‐Qin Hu, Hamid Nourmand, Philip Levin, Ronald Enriquez, Jonathan R. Hiatt, R. Mark Ghobrial, Douglas G. Farmer, Ronald W. Busuttil, Randolph H. Steadman – 22 March 2006 – Recent changes in organ allocation based on the model for end‐stage liver disease (MELD) prioritize the most ill patients on the waiting list for liver transplantation. While patients undergoing liver transplantation in the MELD era are more acutely ill, the impact of the policy changes on perioperative management has not been completely assessed.

Jürg Reichen – 22 March 2006

Federico N. Aucejo, Werner Andrade Ortiz, Dympna Kelly, Charles Winans, David Vogt, Bijan Eghtesad, John J. Fung, Charles M. Miller – 22 March 2006

Shaun P. Cordoba, Chuanmin Wang, Rohan Williams, Jian Li, Lynn Smit, Alexandra Sharland, Richard Allen, Geoffrey McCaughan, Alex Bishop – 22 March 2006 – This study aimed to define the molecular mechanism during induction of spontaneous liver transplant tolerance using microarrays and to focus on molecular pathways associated with tolerance by meta‐analysis with published studies. The differences in the early immune response between PVG to DA liver transplant recipients that are spontaneously tolerant (TOL) and PVG to Lewis liver transplants that reject (REJ) were examined.