clinicaltrials.org #NCT01002547). We believe that both ongoing trials will help close some of our knowledge gaps. Ratziu et al. selleck kinase inhibitor clearly outline the shortcomings of TZDs in NASH and identify areas where more research is needed. Their review should encourage additional work and accelerate our understanding of the role of TZDs in the management of patients with NASH. Stephen

A. Harrison M.D.*, Steven Schenker M.D.†, Kenneth Cusi M.D.†, * Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, TX, † The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX. “
“Clinical application of the prognostic gene expression signature has been delayed due to the large number of genes and complexity of prediction algorithms. In the current study we aimed to develop an easy-to-use risk

score with a limited number of genes that can robustly predict prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The risk score was developed using Cox coefficient values of 65 genes in the training set (n = 139) and its robustness was validated in test sets (n = 292). The risk score was a highly significant predictor of overall survival (OS) in the first test cohort (P = 5.6 × 10−5, n = 100) and the second test cohort (P = 5.0 × 10−5, n = 192). In multivariate analysis, the risk score was a significant risk factor among clinical variables examined together (hazard ratio [HR], 1.36; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.13-1.64; P = 0.001 click here for OS). Conclusion: The risk score classifier we have developed can identify two clinically distinct Rucaparib HCC subtypes at early and late stages of the disease in a simple and highly reproducible manner across multiple datasets. (HEPATOLOGY 2011) Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of

cancer death worldwide and accounts for an estimated 600,000 deaths annually.1 Although surgical resection for HCC provides the best chance for a cure, the prognosis after surgery differs considerably among patients. Because of this clinical heterogeneity, predicting the recurrence or survival of HCC patients after surgical resection remains challenging. An accurate stratification reflecting the prognosis of HCC patients would help select the therapy with the potential to confer the best survival, so considerable effort has been devoted to establishing such a stratification (or staging) model for HCC by using clinical information and pathological criteria.2, 3 Currently, several clinical classification systems, including Cancer of the Liver Italian Program, the Barcelona-Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC), the Chinese University Prognostic Index, and the Japanese Integrated Staging schema have been developed and used in clinics.4–7 Although these staging systems have proven useful,8 their predictive accuracy remains limited and they failed to provide biological characteristics of HCC that might account for the clinical heterogeneity.