Steven M. Kawut, Michael J. Krowka, James F. Trotter, Kari E. Roberts, Raymond L. Benza, David B. Badesch, Darren B. Taichman, Evelyn M. Horn, Steven Zacks, Neil Kaplowitz, Robert S. Brown, Michael B. Fallon, Pulmonary Vascular Complications of Liver Disease Study Group – 20 June 2008 – Portopulmonary hypertension affects up to 6% of patients with advanced liver disease, but the predictors and biologic mechanism for the development of this complication are unknown. We sought to determine the clinical risk factors for portopulmonary hypertension in patients with advanced liver disease.

Akio Matsumoto – 20 June 2008

Gina Choi, Marion G. Peters – 20 June 2008

Peter Jepsen, Hendrik Vilstrup, Per Kragh Andersen, Timothy L. Lash, Henrik Toft Sørensen – 20 June 2008 – Patients with liver cirrhosis have a high mortality, not just from cirrhosis‐related causes, but also from other causes. This observation indicates that many patients with cirrhosis have other chronic diseases, yet the prognostic impact of comorbidities has not been examined.

Benjamin D. Cosgrove, Connie Cheng, Justin R. Pritchard, Donna B. Stolz, Douglas A. Lauffenburger, Linda G. Griffith – 20 June 2008 – Tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF) is an inflammatory cytokine that induces context‐dependent proliferation, survival, and apoptosis responses in hepatocytes. TNF stimulates and enhances growth factor‐mediated hepatocyte proliferation and survival following partial hepatectomy, but also acts in concert with other inflammatory cytokines of the innate immune response during viral infection to induce apoptosis in hepatocytes.

Yoichi Hiasa, Hiroyuki Kuzuhara, Yoshio Tokumoto, Ichiro Konishi, Nobuyuki Yamashita, Bunzo Matsuura, Kojiro Michitaka, Raymond T. Chung, Morikazu Onji – 20 June 2008 – A derivative of soyasapogenol, 22β‐methoxyolean‐12‐ene‐3β, 24(4β)‐diol (ME3738), ameliorates liver injury induced by Concanavalin A in mice.

Matthew W. Lawless, Arun K. Mankan, Anthony W. Ryan, Suzanne Norris – 20 June 2008

Darrell H. G. Crawford, Linda M. Fletcher, Gregory J. Anderson – 20 June 2008

Tanja Nussbaum, Jana Samarin, Volker Ehemann, Michaela Bissinger, Eduard Ryschich, Akmal Khamidjanov, Xiaolei Yu, Norbert Gretz, Peter Schirmacher, Kai Breuhahn – 20 June 2008 – The protumorigenic insulin‐like growth factor (IGF)‐II is highly expressed in a significant fraction of human hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC). However, a functional dissection that clarifies the contribution of IGF‐II–binding receptors in tumor progression and a respective molecular characterization of IGF‐II signaling has not been performed.

Elisa Alchera, Lorenza Tacchini, Chiara Imarisio, Caterina Dal Ponte, Cristina De Ponti, Elena Gammella, Gaetano Cairo, Emanuele Albano, Rita Carini – 20 June 2008 – The cellular mechanisms by which ischemic preconditioning increases liver tolerance to ischemia/reperfusion injury are still poorly understood. This study investigated the role of the hypoxia‐inducible factor‐1 (HIF‐1) in the protection associated with the late phase of liver preconditioning.