The Cincinnati team obtained biopsies of livers of 14 infants with biliary atresia.

BBC: NEWS | Health | Hope on child liver transplants

Similar matches in risk were found for oesophageal, gastric, biliary, and breast cancer.

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Fraser was born with the congenital liver defect biliary atresia, and when he was just six- weeks-old he underwent an operation to correct the problem.

BBC: Fraser Sneddon, Nicola Sturgeon and Lesley Ross

Although a surgical procedure is successful in many infants, three of every four children who have biliary atresia need a liver transplant before the age of 20.

BBC: NEWS | Health | Hope on child liver transplants

The researchers discovered that in the early phases of biliary atresia, genes that trigger inflammation are activated, and genes that produce chemicals to fight infection are suppressed.

BBC: NEWS | Health | Hope on child liver transplants

It turned out that the cells morphed from being hepatocytes into biliary cells, the kind that line the bile ducts, and then quickly began to form tumors.

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The researchers found that while two-thirds of infants with biliary atresia produced a cytokine called gamma-interferon, the protein was not found in any of the samples of infants with cholestasis.

BBC: NEWS | Health | Hope on child liver transplants