The balancing act of hepatocyte apoptosis

Nicholas A. Shackel – 23 November 2010 – The cell death receptor Fas plays a role in the establishment of fulminant hepatitis, a major cause of drug‐induced liver failure. Fas activation elicits extrinsic apoptotic and hepatoprotective signals; however, the mechanisms by which these signals are integrated during disease are unknown. Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases 3 (TIMP3) controls the critical sheddase a disintegrin and metalloproteinase 17 (ADAM17) and may dictate stress signaling.

Hepatitis C trials that combine investigational agents with pegylated interferon should be stratified by interleukin‐28B genotype

Alexander J. Thompson, Andrew J. Muir, Mark S. Sulkowski, Keyur Patel, Hans L. Tillmann, Paul J. Clark, Susanna Naggie, Jacques Fellay, Dongliang Ge, Jeanette J. McCarthy, David B. Goldstein, John G. McHutchison – 23 November 2010

Teaching New Tricks to an Old Foe: Murinizing Hepatitis C Virus

Gisa Gerold, Charles M. Rice, Alexander Ploss – 23 November 2010 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV) naturally infects only humans and chimpanzees. The determinants responsible for this narrow species tropism are not well defined. Virus cell entry involves human scavenger receptor class B type I (SR‐BI), CD81, claudin‐1 and occludin. Among these, at least CD81 and occludin are utilized in a highly species‐specific fashion, thus contributing to the narrow host range of HCV.

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