Blythe D. Shepard, Rohan A. Joseph, George T. Kannarkat, Tara M. Rutledge, Dean J. Tuma, Pamela L. Tuma – 28 October 2008 – We have been using polarized, hepatic WIF‐B cells to examine ethanol‐induced liver injury. These cells polarize in culture and maintain numerous liver‐specific activities including the ability to metabolize alcohol. Previously, we found that microtubules were more highly acetylated and more stable in ethanol‐treated WIF‐B cells and that increased microtubule acetylation required ethanol metabolism and was likely mediated by acetaldehyde.

Chihiro Morishima, Timothy R. Morgan, James E. Everhart, Elizabeth C. Wright, Minjun C. Apodaca, David R. Gretch, Mitchell L. Shiffman, Gregory T. Everson, Karen L. Lindsay, William M. Lee, Anna S. F. Lok, Jules L. Dienstag, Marc G. Ghany, Teresa M. Curto, HALT‐C Trial Group – 28 October 2008 – The Siemens VERSANT® transcription‐mediated amplification (TMA) assay is extremely sensitive for the detection of hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA in serum.

Francesca Faggioli, Maria Grazia Sacco, Lucia Susani, Cristina Montagna, Paolo Vezzoni – 28 October 2008 – A large portion of hepatocytes are polyploid cells, thought to arise through endoduplication followed by aborted cytokinesis. However, several recent reports describing liver cell fusion with exogenously derived bone marrow cells have been published. The exact significance of this finding is unclear, because the adopted protocols involve ablation regimens, damaged livers and artificial injections of adult cells.

Peter W. Angus, Scott J. Patterson, Simone I. Strasser, Geoffrey W. McCaughan, Edward Gane – 28 October 2008 – Prior to effective prophylaxis, liver transplantation for hepatitis B virus (HBV)‐related disease was frequently complicated by recurrence, which could be severe and rapidly progressive. Combination hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIG) and lamivudine prophylaxis reduces this rate of recurrence to <5% at 5 years; however, HBIG administration is costly and inconvenient.

Martin Wagner, Gernot Zollner, Michael Trauner – 28 October 2008

Michele A. Rodrigues, Dawidson A. Gomes, Viviane A. Andrade, M. Fatima Leite, Michael H. Nathanson – 28 October 2008 – Insulin is an hepatic mitogen that promotes liver regeneration. Actions of insulin are mediated by the insulin receptor, which is a receptor tyrosine kinase. It is currently thought that signaling via the insulin receptor occurs at the plasma membrane, where it binds to insulin.

Chien‐Wei Su, Jaw‐Ching Wu, Shou‐Dong Lee – 28 October 2008

Silvia Martin‐Lluesma, Céline Schaeffer, Eva Isabelle Robert, Pieter Cornelis van Breugel, Olivier Leupin, Olivier Hantz, Michel Strubin – 28 October 2008 – Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a leading cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but its role in the transformation process remains unclear. HBV encodes a small protein, known as HBx, which is required for infection and has been implicated in hepatocarcinogenesis. Here we show that HBx induces lagging chromosomes during mitosis, which in turn leads to formation of aberrant mitotic spindles and multinucleated cells.

Gunda Millonig, Frank M. Reimann, Stephanie Friedrich, Hamidreza Fonouni, Arianeb Mehrabi, Markus W. Büchler, Helmut Karl Seitz, Sebastian Mueller – 28 October 2008 – Transient elastography (FibroScan [FS]) is a novel non‐invasive tool to assess liver fibrosis/cirrhosis. However, it remains to be determined if other liver diseases such as extrahepatic cholestasis interfere with fibrosis assessment because liver stiffness is indirectly measured by the propagation velocity of an ultrasound wave within the liver.

Barbara H. McGovern, Barham K. Abu Dayyeh, Raymond T. Chung – 28 October 2008 – The development of specifically targeted antiviral agents against hepatitis C is a major therapeutic advance that promises to markedly improve treatment response rates in patients with chronic infection. However, rapid emergence of drug resistance has already been described, the consequences of which are not yet understood.