Clinical burden of liver disease from hemochromatosis at an academic medical center

Sergio A. Sánchez‐Luna, Kyle E. Brown – 18 May 2017 – Hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) can cause cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but the frequency of these complications is controversial. To address this question, we reviewed the experience with HH at an academic medical center that is the sole liver transplantation center in a state with a population that is >90% Caucasian.

The PNPLA3 variant associated with fatty liver disease (I148M) accumulates on lipid droplets by evading ubiquitylation

Soumik BasuRay, Eriks Smagris, Jonathan C. Cohen, Helen H. Hobbs – 18 May 2017 – A sequence variation (I148M) in patatin‐like phospholipase domain‐containing protein 3 (PNPLA3) is strongly associated with fatty liver disease, but the underlying mechanism remains obscure. In this study, we used knock‐in (KI) mice (Pnpla3148M/M) to examine the mechanism responsible for accumulation of triglyceride (TG) and PNPLA3 in hepatic lipid droplets (LDs). No differences were found between Pnpla3148M/M and Pnpla3+/+ mice in hepatic TG synthesis, utilization, or secretion.

Large‐scale computational models of liver metabolism: How far from the clinics?

Tanja Cvitanović, Matthias C. Reichert, Miha Moškon, Miha Mraz, Frank Lammert, Damjana Rozman – 18 May 2017 – Understanding the dynamics of human liver metabolism is fundamental for effective diagnosis and treatment of liver diseases. This knowledge can be obtained with systems biology/medicine approaches that account for the complexity of hepatic responses and their systemic consequences in other organs.

Biases in the reporting of hepatocellular carcinoma tumor sizes on the liver transplant waiting list

Mariya L. Samoylova, Mark J. Nigrini, Jennifer L. Dodge, John P. Roberts – 18 May 2017 – We investigated the possibility that patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) listed for liver transplant with tumors just outside stage T2 size criteria may be inaccurately reported as just meeting the tumor size criteria for transplant. The United Network for Organ Sharing/Standard Transplant Analysis and Research database identified 12,958 patients listed for liver transplants with HCC exception points from 2006 to 2013, 9,168 of whom were listed with one tumor.

Targeting CCl4‐induced liver fibrosis by RNA interference–mediated inhibition of cyclin E1 in mice

Jörg‐Martin Bangen, Linda Hammerich, Roland Sonntag, Maike Baues, Ute Haas, Daniela Lambertz, Thomas Longerich, Twan Lammers, Frank Tacke, Christian Trautwein, Christian Liedtke – 18 May 2017 – Initiation and progression of liver fibrosis requires proliferation and activation of resting hepatic stellate cells (HSCs). Cyclin E1 (CcnE1) is the regulatory subunit of the cyclin‐dependent kinase 2 (Cdk2) and controls cell cycle re‐entry. We have recently shown that genetic inactivation of CcnE1 prevents activation, proliferation, and survival of HSCs and protects from liver fibrogenesis.

Circular RNA circMTO1 acts as the sponge of microRNA‐9 to suppress hepatocellular carcinoma progression

Dan Han, Jiangxue Li, Huamin Wang, Xiaoping Su, Jin Hou, Yan Gu, Cheng Qian, Yun Lin, Xiang Liu, Mingyan Huang, Nan Li, Weiping Zhou, Yizhi Yu, Xuetao Cao – 18 May 2017 – Noncoding RNAs play important roles in cancer biology, providing potential targets for cancer intervention. As a new class of endogenous noncoding RNAs, circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been recently identified in cell development and function, and certain types of pathological responses, generally acting as a microRNA (miRNA) sponge to regulate gene expression.

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