Annette Erhardt, Markus Biburger, Thomas Papadopoulos, Gisa Tiegs – 26 January 2007 – The liver appears to play an important role in immunological tolerance, for example, during allo‐transplantation. We investigated tolerance mechanisms in the model of concanavalin A (ConA)‐induced immune‐mediated liver injury in mice. We found that a single injection of a sublethal ConA dose to C57BL/6 mice induced tolerance toward ConA‐induced liver damage within 8 days. This tolerogenic state was characterized by suppression of the typical Th1 response in this model and increased IL‐10 production.

Kris V. Kowdley – 26 January 2007

Jeffrey S. Crippin – 26 January 2007

Jing Xu, Zhong‐Yang Shen, Xin‐Guo Chen, Qing Zhang, Hui‐Jie Bian, Ping Zhu, Hui‐Yun Xu, Fei Song, Xiang‐Min Yang, Li Mi, Qing‐Chuan Zhao, Rong Tian, Qiang Feng, Si‐He Zhang, Yu Li, Jian‐Li Jiang, Ling Li, Xiao‐Ling Yu, Zheng Zhang, Zhi‐Nan Chen – 26 January 2007 – Orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) is the only curative therapy of HCC with underlying cirrhosis, but due to HCC metastasis and recurrence, its benefit is limited to a small population who meet the strict selection criteria.

Shuichi Yokosawa, Kaname Yoshizawa, Masao Ota, Yoshihiko Katsuyama, Shigeyuki Kawa, Tetsuya Ichijo, Takeji Umemura, Eiji Tanaka, Kendo Kiyosawa – 26 January 2007 – Genetic predisposition to type 1 autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is linked mainly to HLA class II genes. We previously searched the whole HLA region for AIH susceptibility genes using microsatellite markers and found only HLA‐DR/DQ to be a candidate region for this suspected multifactorial disease.

Yuki Moritoki, Zhe‐Xiong Lian, Heike Wulff, Guo‐Xiang Yang, Ya‐Hui Chuang, Ruth Y. Lan, Yoshiyuki Ueno, Aftab A. Ansari, Ross L. Coppel, Ian R. Mackay, M. Eric Gershwin – 26 January 2007 – We previously reported that peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) produce significantly higher levels of polyclonal IgM than controls after exposure to CpG. Furthermore, the prevalence and unusually high levels of antimitochondrial antibodies (AMAs) in patients with PBC suggest a profound loss of B cell tolerance.

William F. Balistreri, Gregory Bologna – 26 January 2007

Chih‐Peng Chang, Ming‐Cheng Yang, Hsiao‐Sheng Liu, Yee‐Shin Lin, Huan‐Yao Lei – 26 January 2007 – Concanavalin A (ConA), a lectin with mannose specificity that can induce acute hepatic inflammation, was tested for its therapeutic effect against hepatoma. ConA is cytotoxic or inhibitory to hepatoma cells, which is mediated by the autophagic pathway through mitochondria. Once it was bound to cell membrane glycoproteins, the ConA was internalized and preferentially localized onto the mitochondria.

Irene Rapti, Evangelini Dimou, Panayota Mitsoula, Stephanos J. Hadziyannis – 26 January 2007 – We studied the long‐term efficacy of adefovir dipivoxil (ADV) treatment in 42 HBeAg‐negative patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) who had developed genotypical lamivudine (LAM) resistance with virological and clinical breakthroughs under long‐term LAM treatment. Patients were allocated in 2 treatment groups. In the first (n = 14), LAM was switched to ADV monotherapy whereas in the second (n = 28) ADV was added to LAM.

Jorge Rakela, John J. Fung – 26 January 2007