Virginie Cerec, Denise Glaise, Delphine Garnier, Serban Morosan, Bruno Turlin, Bernard Drenou, Philippe Gripon, Dina Kremsdorf, Christiane Guguen‐Guillouzo, Anne Corlu – 28 March 2007 – Hepatic tumors, exhibiting mature hepatocytes and undifferentiated cells merging with cholangiocyte and hepatocyte phenotypes, are frequently described. The mechanisms by which they occur remain unclear. We report differentiation and transdifferentiation behaviors of human HepaRG cells isolated from a differentiated tumor developed consecutively to chronic HCV infection.

Paul Angulo, Jason M. Hui, Giulio Marchesini, Ellisabetta Bugianesi, Jacob George, Geoffrey C. Farrell, Felicity Enders, Sushma Saksena, Alastair D. Burt, John P. Bida, Keith Lindor, Schuyler O. Sanderson, Marco Lenzi, Leon A. Adams, James Kench, Terry M. Therneau, Christopher P. Day – 28 March 2007 – Patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and advanced liver fibrosis are at the highest risk for progressing to end‐stage liver disease.

Shawn Wasilenko, Andrew L. Mason – 28 March 2007

Shuji Kanmura, Hirofumi Uto, Kazunori Kusumoto, Yoichi Ishida, Satoru Hasuike, Kenji Nagata, Katsuhiro Hayashi, Akio Ido, Sherri Oliver Stuver, Hirohito Tsubouchi – 28 March 2007 – Early detection of HCC increases the potential for curative treatment and improves survival. To facilitate early detection of HCC, this study sought to identify novel diagnostic markers of HCC using surface‐enhanced laser desorption ionization time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (SELDI‐TOF/MS) ProteinChip technology.

Kazuaki Inoue, Takuya Umehara, Urs T. Ruegg, Fumihiko Yasui, Tsunamasa Watanabe, Hiroshi Yasuda, Jean‐Maurice Dumont, Pietro Scalfaro, Makoto Yoshiba, Michinori Kohara – 28 March 2007 – Cyclosporin A (CsA) inhibits replication of the HCV subgenomic replicon, and this effect is believed to not be mediated by its immunosuppressive action. We found that DEBIO‐025, a novel non‐immunosuppressive cyclophilin inhibitor derived from CsA, inhibited HCV replication in vitro more potently than CsA.

Christoph Schmöcker, Karsten H. Weylandt, Lena Kahlke, Jingdong Wang, Hartmut Lobeck, Gisa Tiegs, Thomas Berg, Jing X. Kang – 28 March 2007 – Cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF‐α) are key factors in liver inflammation. Supplementation with essential omega‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n‐3 PUFA) has been demonstrated to lower TNF‐α and IL‐1 production in mononuclear cells. An inflammation‐dampening effect has been observed with increased omega‐3 fatty acid supplementation in several inflammatory diseases.

Vladimir Savransky, Ashika Nanayakkara, Angelica Vivero, Jianguo Li, Shannon Bevans, Philip L. Smith, Michael S. Torbenson, Vsevolod Y. Polotsky – 28 March 2007 – Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is characterized by chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH). OSA is associated with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) in obese subjects. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of CIH on the liver in the absence of obesity. Lean C57BL/6J mice (n = 15) on a regular chow diet were exposed to CIH for 12 weeks and compared with pair‐fed mice exposed to intermittent air (IA, n = 15).

Helen H. Wang, Shailendra B. Patel, Martin C. Carey, David Q.‐H. Wang – 28 March 2007 – Sitosterolemia is caused by mutations in either ABCG5 or ABCG8, but simultaneous mutations of these genes have never been observed.

Tehila Ben Moshe, Hila Barash, Tae‐Bong Kang, Jin‐Chul Kim, Andrew Kovalenko, Eitan Gross, Marcus Schuchmann, Rinat Abramovitch, Eithan Galun, David Wallach – 28 March 2007 – Caspase‐8 has been implicated in signaling for apoptotic cell death and for certain nonapoptotic functions. However, knowledge of actual physiological or pathophysiological processes to which this enzyme contributes is lacking.

Jay H. Hoofnagle, Edward Doo, T. Jake Liang, Russell Fleischer, Anna S.F. Lok – 28 March 2007 – Chronic hepatitis B is caused by persistent infection with the hepatitis B virus (HBV), a unique DNA virus that replicates through an RNA intermediate produced from a stable covalently closed circular DNA molecule. Viral persistence appears to be due to inadequate innate and adaptive immune responses. Chronic infection has a variable course after several decades resulting in cirrhosis in up to one‐third of patients and liver cancer in a proportion of those with cirrhosis.