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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jan 7, 2016; 22(1): 72-88
Published online Jan 7, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i1.72
Molecular changes in hepatic metabolism and transport in cirrhosis and their functional importance
Christoph G Dietrich, Oliver Götze, Andreas Geier
Christoph G Dietrich, Bethlehem Center of Health, Department of Internal Medicine, D-52222 Stolberg (Rhineland), Germany
Oliver Götze, Andreas Geier, University of Würzburg, Division of Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine II, D-97080 Würzburg, Germany
Author contributions: Dietrich CG, Götze O and Geier A researched the literature and wrote the manuscript; all authors approved the final version of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflict of interest. No financial support.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Christoph G Dietrich, MD, PhD, Bethlehem Center of Health, Department of Internal Medicine, Bethlehem-Gesundheitszentrum, Steinfeldstrasse 5, D-52222 Stolberg (Rhineland), Germany. dietrich@bethlehem.de
Telephone: +49-2402-1074223 Fax: +49-2402-1074431
Received: April 29, 2015
Peer-review started: May 8, 2015
First decision: August 25, 2015
Revised: September 24, 2015
Accepted: November 13, 2015
Article in press: November 13, 2015
Published online: January 7, 2016
Core Tip

Core tip: Liver cirrhosis is a common endpoint for many hepatic diseases and is accompanied by the extensive gene regulation of cytokines and enzymes for hepatic metabolism. The resulting organ deficiency complicates treatment decisions, especially regarding transplantation and the resection of hepatocellular carcinoma. This review summarizes the regulatory events involving the metabolism in the cirrhotic liver and puts these events into the context of the non-invasive testing of liver function. This combination can help to better estimate the liver function of individual patients.