Andre Boonstra, Luc J. W. van der Laan, Thomas Vanwolleghem, Harry L. A. Janssen – 29 October 2009 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a leading cause of chronic liver disease. The majority of infected individuals develop a persistent infection, which is associated with a high risk of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Since its discovery 20 years ago, progress in our understanding of this virus has been suboptimal due to the lack of good model systems.

Katsunori Yoshida, Guo‐Xiang Yang, Weici Zhang, Masanobu Tsuda, Koichi Tsuneyama, Yuki Moritoki, Aftab A. Ansari, Kazuichi Okazaki, Zhe‐Xiong Lian, Ross L. Coppel, Ian R. Mackay, M.

En‐Qiang Chen, Hong Tang – 29 October 2009

Michael Charlton – 29 October 2009

Carlo Pedrolli, Emanuele Cereda – 29 October 2009

29 October 2009

Napoleon Waszkiewicz, Sławomir Dariusz Szajda, Anna Zalewska, Beata Konarzewska, Agata Szulc, Alina Kȩpka, Krzysztof Zwierz – 29 October 2009

Niloofar Ale‐Agha, Stefanie Galban, Christiane Sobieroy, Kotb Abdelmohsen, Myriam Gorospe, Helmut Sies, Lars‐Oliver Klotz – 29 October 2009 – Gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) plays a critical role in the regulation of tissue homeostasis and carcinogenesis and is modulated by the levels, subcellular localization, and posttranslational modification of gap junction proteins, the connexins (Cx). Here, using oval cell‐like rat liver epithelial cells, we demonstrate that the RNA‐binding protein HuR promotes GJIC through two mechanisms.

John Bucuvalas – 29 October 2009 – Key Points

Emily M. Fredericks – 29 October 2009 – Key Points