Cho‐Rok Jung, Jinsang Yoo, Ye Jin Jang, Sangsoo Kim, In‐Sun Chu, Young Il Yeom, Jong Young Choi, Dong‐Soo Im – 20 April 2006 – The pituitary tumor transforming (PTTG) gene family comprises PTTG1, 2, and 3. Forced expression of PTTG1 (securin) induces cellular transformation and promotes tumor development in animal models. PTTG1 is overexpressed in various human cancers. However, the expression and pathogenic implications of the PTTG gene family in hepatocellular carcinoma are largely unknown.

Thomas P. Beresford – 20 April 2006

Bhanu Sunku, Paolo R. O. Salvalaggio, James S. Donaldson, Cynthia K. Rigsby, Katie Neighbors, Riccardo A. Superina, Estella M. Alonso – 20 April 2006 – Posttransplantation biliary strictures occur in 5–34% of the pediatric liver transplant patients and are conventionally managed by interventional radiological techniques. The aim of this manuscript is to assess the outcomes of patients with biliary strictures treated by percutaneous dilatation at our institution.

Misao Fujita, Akira Akabayashi, Brian Taylor Slingsby, Shinji Kosugi, Yasuhiro Fujimoto, Koichi Tanaka – 20 April 2006 – This study examined the decision‐making processes of donors in adult‐to‐adult living donor liver transplantation. Twenty‐two donors were interviewed using a semi‐structured format. Interview contents were transcribed verbatim and analyzed qualitatively using grounded theory. A decision‐making model was developed consisting of 5 stages: (1) recognition, (2) digestion, (3) decision‐making, (4) reinforcement, and (5) resolution.

Luca Fabris, Massimiliano Cadamuro, Romina Fiorotto, Tania Roskams, Carlo Spirlì, Saida Melero, Aurelio Sonzogni, Ruth E. Joplin, Lajos Okolicsanyi, Mario Strazzabosco – 20 April 2006 – Liver involvement in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is characterized by altered remodeling of the embryonic ductal plate (DP) with presence of biliary cysts and aberrant portal vasculature. The genetic defect causing ADPKD has been identified, but mechanisms of liver cyst growth remain uncertain.

Thomas von Hahn, Brett D. Lindenbach, Agnès Boullier, Oswald Quehenberger, Matthew Paulson, Charles M. Rice, Jane A. McKeating – 20 April 2006 – Cell entry of hepatitis C virus, pseudoparticles (HCVpp) and cell culture grown virus (HCVcc), requires the interaction of viral glycoproteins with CD81 and other as yet unknown cellular factors. One of these is likely to be the scavenger receptor class B type I (SR‐BI). To further understand the role of SR‐BI, we examined the effect of SR‐BI ligands on HCVpp and HCVcc infectivity.

20 April 2006

Yuji Soejima, Tomoaki Taguchi, Keiko Ogita, Akinobu Taketomi, Tomoharu Yoshizumi, Hideaki Uchiyama, Takuro Ohno, Mitsuo Shimada, Yoshihiko Maehara – 20 April 2006 – Congenital absence of the portal vein (CAPV) is a rare malformation of the mesenteric vasculature in which visceral venous blood bypasses the liver, completely draining into the systemic circulation through a congenital porto‐systemic shunt. Liver transplantation has rarely been indicated for patients with this disease.

Alan F. Hofmann, Pierre‐Michel Huet – 20 April 2006

Harm Hoekstra, Robert J. Porte, Yinghua Tian, Wolfram Jochum, Bruno Stieger, Wolfgang Moritz, Maarten J.H. Slooff, Rolf Graf, Pierre A. Clavien – 20 April 2006 – Intrahepatic bile duct strictures are a serious complication after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). We examined the role of endogenous bile salt toxicity in the pathogenesis of bile duct injury after OLT. Livers from wild‐type mice and mice heterozygous for disruption of the multidrug resistance 2 Mdr2 gene (Mdr2+/−) were transplanted into wild‐type recipient mice.