Brian L. Pearlman, Carole Ehleben, Sophia Saifee – 28 November 2007 – In hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1 infection, the duration of interferon‐based therapy is a critical determinant in achieving sustained virologic response (SVR). Slow or late responders to peginterferon and ribavirin may benefit from an extended treatment course. We sought to determine if therapy extension could improve response rates in a United States population of slow responders.

Dominique Thabut, Julien Massard, Alice Gangloff, Nicolas Carbonell, Claire Francoz, Eric Nguyen‐Khac, Christian Duhamel, Didier Lebrec, Thierry Poynard, Richard Moreau – 28 November 2007 – Although it is often functional at presentation, acute renal failure has a poor prognosis in patients with cirrhosis. The role of inflammation, a key event in the outcome of cirrhosis, has never been studied in this setting. We aimed to investigate the predictive factors of mortality in patients with cirrhosis and acute functional renal failure, specifically in relation to inflammatory events.

Tarek I. Hassanein, Flemming Tofteng, Robert S. Brown, Brendan McGuire, Patrick Lynch, Ravindra Mehta, Fin S. Larsen, Jeff Gornbein, Jan Stange, Andres T. Blei – 28 November 2007 – Extracorporeal albumin dialysis (ECAD) may improve severe hepatic encephalopathy (HE) in patients with advanced cirrhosis via the removal of protein or non–protein‐bound toxins. A prospective, randomized, controlled, multicenter trial of the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of ECAD using molecular adsorbent recirculating system (MARS) was conducted in such patients.

Kenneth E. Sherman, Russell Fleischer, Katherine Laessig, Jeffrey Murray, William Tauber, Debra Birnkrant – 28 November 2007

Samir Zakhari, Ting‐Kai Li – 28 November 2007 – More than 70% of alcohol is consumed by 10% of the population in the United States. Implicit in this statistic is that tremendous variation in the pattern of drinking (quantity, frequency, and duration) exists among alcohol consumers. Individuals who are binge or chronic drinkers will have different health outcomes than social drinkers. Therefore, knowing the pattern of drinking will shed light on how severely individuals are alcohol‐dependent and on the extent of liver damage.

Jason Chamberlain, Takashi Yamagami, Evan Colletti, Neil D. Theise, Jyoti Desai, Ana Frias, John Pixley, Esmail D. Zanjani, Christopher D. Porada, Graça Almeida‐Porada – 28 November 2007 – Alternative methods to whole liver transplantation require a suitable cell that can be expanded to obtain sufficient numbers required for successful transplantation while maintaining the ability to differentiate into hepatocytes. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) possess several advantageous characteristics for cell‐based therapy and have been shown to be able to differentiate into hepatocytes.

Nadia Gorman, Adrian Zaharia, Heidi S. Trask, Juliana G. Szakacs, Nicholas J. Jacobs, Judith M. Jacobs, Dominic Balestra, Jacqueline F. Sinclair, Peter R. Sinclair – 28 November 2007 – Porphyria cutanea tarda is a liver disease characterized by elevated hepatic iron and excessive production of uroporphyrin (URO). Phlebotomy is an effective treatment that probably acts by reducing hepatic iron. Here we used Hfe(−/−) mice to compare the effects on hepatic URO accumulation of two different methods of hepatic iron depletion: iron chelation using deferiprone (L1) versus iron‐deficient diets.

Carlo Selmi, M. Eric Gershwin, Keith D. Lindor, Howard J. Worman, Ellen B. Gold, Mitchell Watnik, Jessica Utts, Pietro Invernizzi, Marshall M. Kaplan, John M. Vierling, Christopher L. Bowlus, Marina G. Silveira, Ilaria Bossi, USA PBC Epidemiology Group – 28 November 2007 – Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is generally a slowly progressive disease that may lead to cirrhosis and liver failure.

Tina L. Sumpter, Masanori Abe, Daisuke Tokita, Angus W. Thomson – 28 November 2007 – Interstitial liver dendritic cells (DCs) exhibit phenotypic diversity and functional plasticity. They play important roles in both innate and adaptive immunity. Their comparatively low inherent T cell stimulatory ability and the outcome of their interactions with CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, as well as with natural killer (NK) T cells and NK cells within the liver, may contribute to regulation of hepatic inflammatory responses and liver allograft outcome.

Mirjam B. Zeisel, George Koutsoudakis, Eva K. Schnober, Anita Haberstroh, Hubert E. Blum, François‐Loïc Cosset, Takaji Wakita, Daniel Jaeck, Michel Doffoel, Cathy Royer, Eric Soulier, Evelyne Schvoerer, Catherine Schuster, Françoise Stoll‐Keller, Ralf Bartenschlager, Thomas Pietschmann, Heidi Barth, Thomas F. Baumert – 28 November 2007 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major cause of chronic hepatitis worldwide. Scavenger receptor class B type I (SR‐BI) has been shown to bind HCV envelope glycoprotein E2, participate in entry of HCV pseudotype particles, and modulate HCV infection.