Dar‐In Tai, Wen‐Juei Jeng, Chun‐Yen Lin – 6 November 2017 – Genome‐wide association studies have indicated that human leukocyte antigen (HLA)‐DP and HLA‐DQ play roles in persistent hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in Asia. To understand the evolution of HBV‐related single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and to correlate these SNPs with chronic HBV infection among different populations, we conducted a global perspective study on hepatitis‐related SNPs. We selected 12 HBV‐related SNPs on the HLA locus and two HBV and three hepatitis C virus immune‐related SNPs for analysis.

Olympia E. Anastasiou, Foteini Almpani, Anke Herrmann, Guido Gerken, Markus Ditschkowski, Sandra Ciesek – 6 November 2017 – Hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation (HBVr) in recipients of allogeneic hematopoetic stem cells (aHSCs) appears heterogeneously with respect to its frequency, manifestation, and outcome. The aim of this study was to present data from a large German cohort of recipients of aHSC transplantation (aHSCT), focusing on the incidence of HBVr in antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (anti‐HBc)‐positive aHSCT recipients, its clinical outcome, and the role of mutations in HBV.

Wen‐Juei Jeng, Yi‐Cheng Chen, Rong‐Nan Chien, I‐Shyan Sheen, Yun‐Fan Liaw – 6 November 2017 – Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) loss is a rare event during nucleos(t)ide analogue (Nuc) therapy. Limited data suggest that stopping Nuc therapy may increase HBsAg loss rate in hepatitis B e antigen–negative patients. A large study was conducted to investigate this issue in more detail. Of the 1,075 hepatitis B e antigen–negative patients treated with Nuc for a median of 156 (61‐430) weeks, 5 showed HBsAg seroclearance during treatment at an estimated annual incidence of 0.15%.

Francesca Faggioli, Eleonora Palagano, Luca Di Tommaso, Matteo Donadon, Veronica Marrella, Camilla Recordati, Stefano Mantero, Anna Villa, Paolo Vezzoni, Barbara Cassani – 3 November 2017 – Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a frequent neoplasia and a leading cause of inflammation‐related cancer mortality. Despite that most HCCs arise from persistent inflammatory conditions, pathways linking chronic inflammation to cancer development are still incompletely elucidated.

Sophie Hillaire, Dominique Cazals‐Hatem, Serge Erlinger, Valerie Paradis – 3 November 2017

Christopher Koh, Sasan Sakiani, Theo Heller – 3 November 2017

Srividyameena Haridoss, Mladen I. Yovchev, Hannah Schweizer, Sabreen Megherhi, Maria Beecher, Joseph Locker, Michael Oertel – 3 November 2017 – Activin A, a multifunctional cytokine, plays an important role in hepatocyte growth suppression and is involved in liver size control. The present study was aimed to determine the cell location of activin A in the normal rat liver microenvironment and the contribution of activin A signaling to the hepatocyte phenotype to obtain insight into molecular mechanisms.

3 November 2017

Hilda E. Ghadieh, Harrison T. Muturi, Lucia Russo, Christopher C. Marino, Simona S. Ghanem, Saja S. Khuder, Julie C. Hanna, Sukanta Jash, Vishwajeet Puri, Garrett Heinrich, Cara Gatto‐Weis, Kevin Y. Lee, Sonia M. Najjar – 2 November 2017 – Exenatide, a glucagon‐like peptide‐1 receptor agonist, induces insulin secretion. Its role in insulin clearance has not been adequately examined. Carcinoembryonic antigen‐related cell adhesion molecule 1 (CEACAM1) promotes hepatic insulin clearance to maintain insulin sensitivity.

Kirk J. Wangensteen, Yue J. Wang, Zhixun Dou, Amber W. Wang, Elham Mosleh‐Shirazi, Max A. Horlbeck, Luke A. Gilbert, Jonathan S. Weissman, Shelley L. Berger, Klaus H. Kaestner – 1 November 2017 – Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR‐associated 9 activation (CRISPRa) systems have enabled genetic screens in cultured cell lines to discover and characterize drivers and inhibitors of cancer cell growth.