A specific form of vitamin E improved the most severe form of fatty liver disease in some children, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Results appear in the April 27 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. A previous study found vitamin E effective in some adults with the disease.

Transplanting cells from healthy adult livers may work in treating a genetic liver-lung disorder that affects millions of people worldwide, according to an animal study in the April 18 online edition of the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Jayanta Roy-Chowdhury, M.D. , professor of medicine and of genetics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, is the study's senior author.

Study shows, for the first time, the successful reprogramming of diseased human hepatocytes into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC).1

This study establishes a unique system to perform in vivo RNAi screens for genetically dissecting the cellular signalling networks that regulate hepatocyte proliferation during chronic liver damage.1

UCLA researchers have demonstrated that a key regulator of cholesterol and fat metabolism in the liver also plays an important role in the development of liver fibrosis — the build-up of collagen scar tissue that can develop into cirrhosis. Cirrhosis, in turn, is a major cause of premature death and is incurable without a liver transplant.

There are potential legal ramifications for physicians of patients who drive with cognitive impairment, according to a study in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute.

NAFLD is a condition where fat accumulates in the liver (steatosis) and can lead to liver inflammation (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis or NASH) and permanent liver damage (fibrosis/cirrhosis). NAFLD affects anywhere from 11% to 45% of some populations and is associated with obesity, hypertension, and problems regulating serum lipids or glucose.

German researchers have found a significant association of IL28B genotypes to interferon-based antiviral treatment outcome, and to graft inflammation caused by hepatitis C virus (HCV).

A redesign of the nation’s donor-liver distribution network developed by University of Pittsburgh researchers could result in several hundred more people each year receiving the transplants they need.

Nanotechnology may open a new door on the treatment of liver cancer, according to a team of Penn State College of Medicine researchers. They used molecular-sized bubbles filled with chemotherapy drugs to prevent cell growth and initiate cell death in test tubes and mice.