FK 409 ameliorates small-for-size liver graft injury by attenuation of portal hypertension and down-regulation of Egr-1 pathway.

Objective: To investigate whether low-dose nitric oxide donor FK 409 could attenuate small-for-size graft injury in liver transplantation using small-for-size grafts.

Summary Background Data: The major concern of live donor liver transplantation is small-for-size graft injury at the early phase after transplantation. Novel therapeutic strategies should be investigated.

Insulin in University of Wisconsin solution exacerbates the ischemic injury and decreases the graft survival rate in rat liver transplantation.

Background: Insulin keeps the liver in a metabolically vigorous state. However, organ preservation aims to decrease the metabolic rate. The objective of this study was to clarify the effect of insulin used in University of Wisconsin (UW) preservation solution on the liver graft.

Graft injury in relation to graft size in right lobe live donor liver transplantation: a study of hepatic sinusoidal injury in correlation with portal hemodynamics and intragraft gene expression.

Objective: To investigate the degree and mechanism of hepatic sinusoidal injury in different graft sizes in right lobe live donor liver transplantation (LDLT).

Summary Background Data: Liver grafts from living donors are likely to be small-for-size for adult recipients. Graft injury after reperfusion is common, but the mechanism and degree of injury remain unclear.

Quantification and utility of monosialylated alpha-fetoprotein in the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma with nondiagnostic serum total alpha-fetoprotein.

Background: At concentrations <500 microg/L, serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) has low specificity in the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but monosialylated AFP (msAFP) is more specific for HCC. We describe two strategies for quantitative analysis of msAFP and explore their diagnostic accuracy in cases of HCC with nondiagnostic serum total AFP concentrations.

Methods: We first used isoelectric focusing, Western blot, and densitometry (IEF-Western blot assay).