Julie Lucifora, David Durantel, Barbara Testoni, Olivier Hantz, Massimo Levrero, Fabien Zoulim – 23 December 2009 – Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is currently viewed as a stealth virus that does not elicit innate immunity in vivo. This assumption has not yet been challenged in vitro because of the lack of a relevant cell culture system. The HepaRG cell line, which is physiologically closer to differentiated hepatocytes and permissive to HBV infection, has opened new perspectives in this respect.HBV baculoviruses were used to initiate an HBV replication in both HepG2 and HepaRG cells.

Lieke M. van der Velden, Janneke M. Stapelbroek, Elmar Krieger, Peter V. E. van den Berghe, Ruud Berger, Patricia M. Verhulst, Joost C. M. Holthuis, Roderick H. J. Houwen, Leo W. J. Klomp, Stan F. J. van de Graaf – 23 December 2009 – Deficiency in P‐type ATP8B1 is a severe and clinically highly variable hereditary disorder that is primarily characterized by intrahepatic cholestasis. It presents either as a progressive (progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis type 1 [PFIC1]) or intermittent (benign recurrent intrahepatic cholestasis type 1 [BRIC1]) disease.

André Nazar, Gustavo Henrique Pereira, Mónica Guevara, Marta Martín‐Llahi, Marie‐Noëlle Pepin, Marcella Marinelli, Elsa Solá, María Eugenia Baccaro, Carlos Terra, Vicente Arroyo, Pere Ginès – 23 December 2009 – Terlipressin plus albumin is an effective treatment for type 1 hepatorenal syndrome (HRS), but approximately only half of the patients respond to this therapy. The aim of this study was to assess predictive factors of response to treatment with terlipressin and albumin in patients with type 1 HRS.

Clavia Ruth Wooton‐Kee, Donna J. Coy, Antony T. Athippozhy, Tianyong Zhao, Brett R. Jones, Mary Vore – 23 December 2009 – Cholesterol 7α‐hydroxylase (Cyp7a1) and the bile acid pool size are increased 2 to 3‐fold in lactating postpartum rats. We investigated the interaction of nuclear receptors with the Cyp7a1 proximal promoter and the expression of regulatory signaling pathways in postpartum rats at day 10 (PPd10) versus female controls to identify the mechanisms of increased expression of Cyp7a1, which is maximal at 16 hours.

Rick D. Fannin, Mark Russo, Thomas M. O'Connell, Kevin Gerrish, Jason H. Winnike, Jeffrey Macdonald, Jack Newton, Shahid Malik, Stella O. Sieber, Joel Parker, Ruchir Shah, Tong Zhou, Paul B. Watkins, Richard S. Paules – 23 December 2009 – The diagnosis and management of drug‐induced liver injury (DILI) is hindered by the limited utility of traditional clinical chemistries. It has recently been shown that hepatotoxicants can produce compound‐specific changes in the peripheral blood (PB) transcriptome in rodents, suggesting that the blood transcriptome might provide new biomarkers of DILI.

Rajan Kochar, Michael Fallon – 23 December 2009

Roland Månsson, Saori Morota, Magnus J. Hansson, Ichiro Sonoda, Yoshihiro Yasuda, Motohide Shimazu, Ayumu Sugiura, Shigeru Yanagi, Hitoshi Miura, Hiroyuki Uchino, Eskil Elmér – 23 December 2009

Michael A. Heneghan, Andrew D. Yeoman – 23 December 2009

Alisan Kahraman, Martin Schlattjan, Peri Kocabayoglu, Sule Yildiz‐Meziletoglu, Matthias Schlensak, Christian D. Fingas, Inga Wedemeyer, Guido Marquitan, Robert K. Gieseler, Hideo A. Baba, Guido Gerken, Ali Canbay – 23 December 2009 – Stress‐induced soluble major histocompatibility complex class I–related chains A/B (MIC A/B) are increased in chronic liver diseases and hepatocellular malignancy. We investigated the impact of these molecules on liver injury, apoptosis, and fibrosis in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

Serena Chang, Karen Kodys, Gyongyi Szabo – 23 December 2009 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV) interferes with interferon (IFN)‐mediated innate immune defenses. Toll‐like receptor (TLR) 7 agonists robustly inhibit HCV infection. We hypothesize that HCV infection may interfere with the expression and/or function of TLR7, a sensor of single‐stranded RNA. We identified reduced TLR7 RNA and protein levels in hepatoma cells expressing HCV (full‐length, BB7‐subgenomic, and JFH‐1 clone) compared with control HCV‐naïve cells.