Laurie D. DeLeve, Dominique‐Charles Valla, Guadalupe Garcia‐Tsao – 27 April 2009

T. Jake Liang – 27 April 2009 – Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infects more than 300 million people worldwide and is a common cause of liver disease and liver cancer. HBV, a member of the Hepadnaviridae family, is a small DNA virus with unusual features similar to retroviruses. HBV replicates through an RNA intermediate and can integrate into the host genome. The unique features of the HBV replication cycle confer a distinct ability of the virus to persist in infected cells.

Pei‐Chun Tsai, Tz‐Win Fu, Yi‐Ming Arthur Chen, Tsui‐Ling Ko, Tien‐Hua Chen, Yang‐Hsin Shih, Shih‐Chieh Hung, Yu‐Show Fu – 27 April 2009 – We investigated the effect of human umbilical mesenchymal stem cells (HUMSCs) from Wharton's jelly on carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)–induced liver fibrosis in rats. Rats were treated with CCl4 for 4 weeks, and this was followed by a direct injection of HUMSCs into their livers.

Kim M. Olthoff – 27 April 2009

M. Isabel Fiel, Thomas Schiano – 27 April 2009

Sharon R. Lewin, Ruy M. Ribeiro, Anchalee Avihingsanon, Scott Bowden, Gail Matthews, Pip Marks, Stephen A. Locarnini, Kiat Ruxrungtham, Alan S. Perelson, Gregory J. Dore – 27 March 2009 – Following treatment of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection with nucleos(t)ide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), there is a biphasic clearance of HBV, similar to that seen following treatment of human immunodeficiency virus‐1 (HIV‐1) and hepatitis C virus.

Shuai Li, Hanjiang Fu, Yulan Wang, Yi Tie, Ruiyun Xing, Jie Zhu, Zhixian Sun, Lixin Wei, Xiaofei Zheng – 27 March 2009 – MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have recently been proposed as a versatile class of molecules involved in regulation of various biological processes. Although there is emerging evidence that some microRNAs can function as oncogenes or tumor suppressors, the specific role of miRNA in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is unclear at this point.

Frank G. Schaap, Niels A. van der Gaag, Dirk J. Gouma, Peter L. M. Jansen – 27 March 2009 – Fibroblast growth factor 19 (FGF19) is an endocrine factor produced by the small intestine in response to uptake of luminal bile salts. In the liver, FGF19 binds to FGF receptor‐4, resulting in down‐regulation of cytochrome P (CYP) 7A1 and reduced bile salt synthesis.

Ahsun Riaz, Laura Kulik, Robert J. Lewandowski, Robert K. Ryu, Georgia Giakoumis Spear, Mary F. Mulcahy, Michael Abecassis, Talia Baker, Vanessa Gates, Ritu Nayar, Frank H. Miller, Kent T. Sato, Reed A. Omary, Riad Salem – 27 March 2009 – We present the correlation between radiologic and pathologic findings in HCC patients who underwent radioembolization with yttrium‐90 (90Y) microspheres prior to resection or transplantation. Thirty‐five patients with a total of 38 lesions who underwent liver explantation after 90Y radioembolization were studied.

Damien Lucidarme, Juliette Foucher, Brigitte Le Bail, Julien Vergniol, Laurent Castera, Clotilde Duburque, Gérard Forzy, Bernard Filoche, Patrice Couzigou, Victor de Lédinghen – 27 March 2009 – The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of success rate and interquartile range on the accuracy of transient elastography for the diagnostic of fibrosis in hepatitis C virus infection. Two‐hundred fifty‐four consecutive patients had liver stiffness measurements and liver biopsy of at least 15 mm.