Genetics in Liver Disease

This book is the proceedings of the Falk Symposium No.156 on ‘Genetics in Liver Disease’, part of the XIII International Liver Week 2006 held in Freiburg, Germany, 7 October 2006. The first section covers the basic aspects of genetic diagnosis, pharmacogenetics, micro-arrays and their relevance for liver diseases, including viral hepatitis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and gallstone diseases. In the second section, the most important hereditary liver diseases are discussed, including haemchromatosis, Wilson disease, alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency, porphyrias and cystic fibrosis. In the third section, the genetics of cholestatic and metabolic liver diseases as well as the current status of experimental and clinical studies of gene therapy for liver diseases and stem cell transplantation are presented. Each section starts with a State-of-the-Art Lecture which introduces the topic. In the tradition of the Falk Symposia, this book provides an exciting overview of the current developments in the field of genetics of liver diseases, their diagnosis, treatment and prevention, presented by an international array of outstanding scientists and clinicians.