Pantxika Bellecave, Magdalena Sarasin‐Filipowicz, Olivier Donzé, Audrey Kennel, Jérôme Gouttenoire, Etienne Meylan, Luigi Terracciano, Jürg Tschopp, Christoph Sarrazin, Thomas Berg, Darius Moradpour, Markus H. Heim – 26 March 2010 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection induces the endogenous interferon (IFN) system in the liver in some but not all patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC). Patients with a pre‐activated IFN system are less likely to respond to the current standard therapy with pegylated IFN‐α.

Sombat Treeprasertsuk, Kris V. Kowdley, Velimir A. C. Luketic, M. Edwyn Harrison, Timothy McCashland, Alex S. Befeler, Denise Harnois, Roberta Jorgensen, Jan Petz, Jill Keach, Jeff Schmoll, Tanya Hoskin, Prabin Thapa, Felicity Enders, Keith D. Lindor – 26 March 2010 – The predictors for developing varices in patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) have not been well studied prospectively. We sought to define the predictors for the presence of varices at baseline and for newly developing varices in patients with PSC.

Sophie E. Krieger, Mirjam B. Zeisel, Christopher Davis, Christine Thumann, Helen J. Harris, Eva K. Schnober, Christopher Mee, Eric Soulier, Cathy Royer, Mélanie Lambotin, Fritz Grunert, Viet Loan Dao Thi, Marlène Dreux, François‐Loïc Cosset, Jane A. McKeating, Catherine Schuster, Thomas F. Baumert – 26 March 2010 – The tight junction protein claudin‐1 (CLDN1) has been shown to be essential for hepatitis C virus (HCV) entry—the first step of viral infection. Due to the lack of neutralizing anti‐CLDN1 antibodies, the role of CLDN1 in the viral entry process is poorly understood.

Giuseppe Cabibbo, Marco Enea, Massimo Attanasio, Jordi Bruix, Antonio Craxì, Calogero Cammà – 26 March 2010 – Knowing the spontaneous outcome of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is important for designing randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of new therapeutic approaches; however, survival of patients in the absence of treatment is highly variable, and prognostic factors influencing outcomes are incompletely defined.

Salvatore Petta, Calogero Cammà, Concetta Scazzone, Claudio Tripodo, Vito Di Marco, Antonino Bono, Daniela Cabibi, Giusalba Licata, Rossana Porcasi, Giulio Marchesini, Antonio Craxí – 26 March 2010 – 25‐Hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) can potentially interfere with inflammatory response and fibrogenesis. Its role in disease progression in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) and its relation with histological and sustained virological response (SVR) to therapy are unknown.

Lluis Palenzuela, Antoni Mas, Joan Montaner, Juan Cordoba – 26 March 2010

Thierry Gustot, Richard Moreau – 26 March 2010

Ina Bergheim, Astrid Spruss – 26 March 2010

Markus Reschke, Ingvar Ferby, Ewa Stepniak, Nina Seitzer, David Horst, Erwin F. Wagner, Axel Ullrich – 26 March 2010 – The mitogen‐inducible gene‐6 (mig‐6) is a multi‐adaptor protein implicated in the regulation of the HER family of receptor tyrosine kinases. We have reported recently that mig‐6 is a negative regulator of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)‐dependent skin morphogenesis and tumor formation in vivo. In the liver, ablation of mig‐6 leads to an increase in EGFR protein levels, suggesting that mig‐6 is a negative regulator of EGFR function.

Philip A. Berry, Charalambos G. Antoniades, Julia Wendon – 26 March 2010