Desmosterol in human nonalcoholic steatohepatitis

Marko Simonen, Ville Männistö, Joel Leppänen, Dorota Kaminska, Vesa Kärjä, Sari Venesmaa, Pirjo Käkelä, Johanna Kuusisto, Helena Gylling, Markku Laakso, Jussi Pihlajamäki – 27 February 2013 – Dysregulation of the cholesterol synthesis pathway and accumulation of cholesterol in the liver are linked to the pathogenesis of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Therefore, we investigated the association of serum and liver levels of cholesterol precursors with NASH.

Excellent quality of life after liver transplantation for patients with perihilar cholangiocarcinoma who have undergone neoadjuvant chemoradiation

Sarwa Darwish Murad, Julie K. Heimbach, Gregory J. Gores, Charles B. Rosen, Joanne T. Benson, W. Ray Kim – 27 February 2013 – Patients with perihilar cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) undergoing neoadjuvant chemoradiation followed by liver transplantation (LT) have excellent survival. However, little is known about their quality of life (QOL). We assessed the QOL of these patients and compared it to the QOL of patients who underwent transplantation for other liver diseases. From 1993 to 2010, 129 CCA patients underwent LT, and 93 (72%) were alive as of November 2010.

Therapeutic recovery of hepatitis B virus (HBV)‐induced hepatocyte‐intrinsic immune defect reverses systemic adaptive immune tolerance

Peixiang Lan, Cai Zhang, Qiuju Han, Jian Zhang, Zhigang Tian – 27 February 2013 – Hepatitis B virus (HBV) persistence aggravates hepatic immunotolerance, leading to the failure of cell‐intrinsic type I interferon and antiviral response, but whether and how HBV‐induced hepatocyte‐intrinsic tolerance influences systemic adaptive immunity has never been reported, which is becoming the major obstacle for chronic HBV therapy.

Liver transplantation for children with biliary atresia in the pediatric end‐stage liver disease era: The role of insurance status

Ronen Arnon, Rachel A. Annunziato, Asha Willis, Meera Parbhakar, Jaime Chu, Nanda Kerkar, Benjamin L. Shneider – 27 February 2013 – Socioeconomic status influences health outcomes, although its impact on liver transplantation (LT) in children with biliary atresia (BA) is unknown. We hypothesized that governmental insurance [public insurance (PU)], rather than private insurance (PR), would be associated with poorer outcomes for children with BA.

Strengthening protections for human subjects: Proposed restrictions on the publication of transplant research involving prisoners

Maryam Valapour, Kristin M. Paulson, Alisha Hilde – 27 February 2013 – Publication is one of the primary rewards in the academic research community and is the first step in the dissemination of a new discovery that could lead to recognition and opportunity. Because of this, the publication of research can serve as a tacit endorsement of the methodology behind the science. This becomes a problem when vulnerable populations that are incapable of giving legitimate informed consent, such as prisoners, are used in research.

Cholestasis in a patient with gallstones and a normal gamma‐glutamyl transferase

Sheida Moghadamrad, Matteo Montani, Rosemarie Weimann, Andrea De Gottardi – 27 February 2013 – Cholestasis with normal gamma glutamyl transferase characterizes functional deficiencies in the gene ABCB11, which encodes the bile salt export pump (BSEP), a liver‐specific adenosine triphosphate (ATP)‐binding cassette transporter. Here we report the case of a patient presenting with features of benign recurrent intrahepatic cholestasis associated with a heterozygous mutation in the ABCB11 gene.

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