Brian J. McMahon – 27 April 2009 – Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection has a complicated course. Three phases are identified: an immune tolerant phase with high HBV DNA and normal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels associated with minimal liver disease; an immune active phase with high HBV DNA and elevated ALT levels with active liver inflammation; and an inactive phase with HBV DNA levels < 2000 IU/mL and normal ALT levels with minimal inflammation and fibrosis on liver biopsy. Affected persons can move progressively from one phase to the next and may revert backward.

Michael L. Schilsky, William Lee, Frank Wiands – 27 April 2009

Jordan J. Feld, David K. H. Wong, E. Jenny Heathcote – 27 April 2009 – Because clearance of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is rarely, if ever, achievable, the goals of therapy necessarily focus on prevention of bad clinical outcomes. Ideally, therapies would be shown to prevent tangible clinical endpoints like development of cirrhosis, end‐stage liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma. However, these endpoints typically take years or decades to occur and are therefore impractical targets for clinical trials which last only 1‐2 years.

Nam‐Joon Yi, Kyung‐Suk Suh, Hae Won Lee, Woo Young Shin, Juhyun Kim, Won Kim, Yoon Jun Kim, Jung‐Hwan Yoon, Hyo‐Suk Lee, Kuhn Uk Lee – 27 April 2009 – Although adult‐to‐adult living donor liver transplantation (ALDLT) has shown comparable outcomes to deceased donor liver transplantation, the outcome of patients with a high MELD score (>25) and a small‐for‐size graft (SFSG<0.8% of graft‐to‐recipient weight ratio) is not known. For 7 years, 167 consecutive hepatitis B virus‐infected recipients underwent ALDLT at our institution.

Sonya A. MacParland, Tram N. Q. Pham, Clifford S. Guy, Tomasz I. Michalak – 27 April 2009 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV) can persist in the liver, lymphoid cells, and serum of individuals with apparently complete spontaneous or therapy‐induced resolution of hepatitis C and can replicate in vivo and in vitro in human T cells. The current study was aimed at assessing the infectivity of HCV persisting at very low levels using the previously established HCV infection system in human T cells.

Fei‐Xiang Ding, Fang Wang, Yi‐Ming Lu, Ka Li, Kai‐Hui Wang, Xiao‐Wen He, Shu‐Han Sun – 27 April 2009 – To develop a hepatitis B virus (HBV) therapeutic vaccine that can induce a broad but specific immune response and significant antitumor effects both in vivo and in vitro, we inserted HBV X protein (HBx)‐derived epitopes HBx(52‐60), HBx(92‐100), and HBx(115‐123); a novel subdominant cytolytic T lymphocyte (CTL) epitope HBx(140‐148); and the universal T helper epitope pan human leukocyte antigen DR‐binding epitope into HBV core protein to form multiepitope peptide‐loaded virus‐like particles

Nadine Huber, Nozomu Sakai, Thorsten Eismann, Thomas Shin, Satoshi Kuboki, John Blanchard, Rebecca Schuster, Michael J. Edwards, Hector R. Wong, Alex B. Lentsch – 27 April 2009 – Hepatic ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) leads to liver injury and dysfunction through the initiation of a biphasic inflammatory response that is regulated by the transcription factor nuclear factor κB (NF‐κB).

Byung Cheol Yun, W. Ray Kim, Joanne T. Benson, Scott W. Biggins, Terry M. Therneau, Walter K. Kremers, Charles B. Rosen, Goran B. Klintmalm – 27 April 2009 – Hyponatremia is associated with reduced survival in patients with cirrhosis awaiting orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). However, data are sparse regarding the impact of hyponatremia on outcome following OLT. We investigated the effect of hyponatremia at the time of OLT on mortality and morbidity following the procedure. The study included 2,175 primary OLT recipients between 1990 and 2000.

Kai Sun, Michele A. Battle, Ravi P. Misra, Stephen A. Duncan – 27 April 2009 – Serum response factor (SRF) is a transcription factor that binds to a CarG box motif within the serum response element of genes that are expressed in response to mitogens. SRF plays essential roles in muscle and nervous system development; however, little is known about the role of SRF during liver growth and function. To examine the function of SRF in the liver, we generated mice in which the Srf gene was specifically disrupted in hepatocytes.

Amalia Gastaldelli, Michaela Kozakova, Kurt Højlund, Allan Flyvbjerg, Angela Favuzzi, Asimina Mitrakou, Beverley Balkau, The RISC Investigators – 27 April 2009 – Patients with fatty liver (FL) disease have a high risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. The aim was to evaluate the association between FL, insulin resistance (IR), coronary heart disease (CHD) risk, and early atherosclerosis in a large European population (RISC Study).