Pierre Bedossa, Rami Moucari, Emna Chelbi, Tarik Asselah, Valerie Paradis, Michel Vidaud, Dominique Cazals‐Hatem, Nathalie Boyer, Dominique Valla, Patrick Marcellin – 26 January 2008

Jeremy F L Cobbold, Simon D Taylor‐Robinson – 26 January 2008

Masaaki Shiina, Barbara Rehermann – 26 January 2008 – Previous studies suggested a functional impairment of dendritic cells (DCs) in patients with chronic hepatitis C. To investigate whether this effect was mediated by a direct interaction of hepatitis C virus (HCV) with DCs, we studied the effects of infectious cell culture–produced hepatitis C virus (HCVcc) on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), ex vivo isolated plasmacytoid, and myeloid DCs and in vitro generated monocyte‐derived DCs of healthy blood donors.

Umberto Arena, Francesco Vizzutti, Giampaolo Corti, Silvia Ambu, Cristina Stasi, Silvia Bresci, Stefania Moscarella, Vieri Boddi, Antonio Petrarca, Giacomo Laffi, Fabio Marra, Massimo Pinzani – 26 January 2008 – Liver tissue alterations other than fibrosis may have an impact on liver stiffness measurement. In this study we evaluated 18 patients without a previous clinical history of liver disease, consecutively admitted for acute viral hepatitis.

Michael W. Fried, Teerha Piratvisuth, George K. K. Lau, Patrick Marcellin, Wan‐Cheng Chow, Graham Cooksley, Kang‐Xian Luo, Seung Woon Paik, Yun‐Fan Liaw, Peter Button, Matei Popescu – 26 January 2008 – The aims of this study were to evaluate the usefulness of quantitative hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) values for predicting HBeAg seroconversion in patients treated with peginterferon alfa‐2a and to assess the dynamic changes in quantitative HBeAg during therapy, compared with conventional measures of serum hepatitis B virus DNA.

Norberto C. Chávez‐Tapia, Felix I. Tellez‐Avila, Misael Uribe – 26 January 2008

Luca Fabris, Massimiliano Cadamuro, Louis Libbrecht, Peggy Raynaud, Carlo Spirlì, Romina Fiorotto, Lajos Okolicsanyi, Frederic Lemaigre, Mario Strazzabosco, Tania Roskams – 26 January 2008 – Intrahepatic bile ducts maintain a close anatomical relationship with hepatic arteries. During liver ontogenesis, the development of the hepatic artery appears to be modulated by unknown signals originating from the bile duct.

Bo Shen, Jun Yu, Shiyan Wang, Eagle S.H. Chu, V.W.S. Wong, Xin Zhou, Ge Lin, Joseph J.Y. Sung, Henry L.Y. Chan – 26 January 2008 – Hepatic oxidative stress plays a critical role in metabolic forms of steatohepatitis. Phyllanthus urinaria, an herbal medicine, has been reported to have potential antioxidant properties. We tested the effects of P. urinaria on nutritional steatohepatitis both in vitro and in vivo. Immortalized normal hepatocytes (AML‐12) or primary hepatocytes were exposed to control, the methionine‐and‐choline‐deficient (MCD) culture medium, in the presence or absence of P.

Mladen I. Yovchev, Petar N. Grozdanov, Hongchao Zhou, Harini Racherla, Chandan Guha, Mariana D. Dabeva – 26 January 2008 – Oval cells appear and expand in the liver when hepatocyte proliferation is compromised. Many different markers have been attributed to these cells, but their nature still remains obscure. This study is a detailed gene expression analysis aimed at revealing their identity and repopulating in vivo capacity. Oval cells were activated in 2‐acetylaminofluorene–treated rats subjected to partial hepatectomy or in D‐galactosamine–treated rats.

Michael Charlton, Paul Angulo, Naga Chalasani, Ralph Merriman, Kimberly Viker, Phunchai Charatcharoenwitthaya, Schuyler Sanderson, Samer Gawrieh, Anuradha Krishnan, Keith Lindor – 26 January 2008 – The biological basis of variability in histological progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is unknown. Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is the most abundant steroid hormone and has been shown to influence sensitivity to oxidative stress, insulin sensitivity, and expression of peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor alpha and procollagen messenger RNA.