Peter T. Donaldson, Anna Baragiotta, Michael A. Heneghan, Annarosa Floreani, Carla Venturi, James A. Underhill, David E.J. Jones, Oliver F.W. James, Margaret F. Bassendine – 29 August 2006 – Twin and family studies suggest there is a significant genetic component to primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). However, the inability to replicate reported associations has been a recurring problem, with the only consistently reported genetic association that between PBC and HLA‐DRB1*0801. However, recently even this has been questioned, and a number of novel associations have also been reported.

Eric W. Olle, Xiaodan Ren, Shannon D. McClintock, Roscoe L. Warner, Michael P. Deogracias, Kent J. Johnson, Lisa M. Colletti – 29 August 2006 – Partial hepatectomy triggers hepatocyte proliferation, hepatic matrix remodeling, and hepatocyte apoptosis, all of which are important processes in the regenerating liver. Previous studies have shown an increase in the levels of matrix metalloproteinases gelatinase A (MMP‐2) and gelatinase B (MMP‐9) after partial hepatectomy. The goal of this study was to investigate the role of MMP‐9 in liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy.

Martijn J. ter Borg, Monika van Zonneveld, Stefan Zeuzem, Hakan Senturk, Ulus S. Akarca, Christopher Simon, Bettina E. Hansen, Bart L. Haagmans, Robert A. de Man, Solko W. Schalm, Harry L.A. Janssen, HBV 99‐01 Study Group – 29 August 2006 – In chronic hepatitis B, it is difficult to predict an early therapeutic response. We investigated the viral decline during therapy with pegylated interferon alpha‐2b (PEG‐IFN) with or without lamivudine in 266 HBeAg‐positive chronic hepatitis B patients.

Grazia Anna Niro, Alessia Ciancio, Giovanni Battista Gaeta, Antonina Smedile, Aldo Marrone, Antonella Olivero, Maria Stanzione, Ezio David, Giuseppina Brancaccio, Rosanna Fontana, Francesco Perri, Angelo Andriulli, Mario Rizzetto – 29 August 2006 – Therapy of chronic hepatitis delta with standard interferon therapy has met with limited efficacy. This study was designed to examine the efficacy and safety of peginterferon with or without ribavirin.

Elwyn Elias – 29 August 2006

George Therapondos, Lieke Hol, Fabiana Benjaminov, Florence Wong – 29 August 2006 – Post‐TIPS ascites‐free patients with cirrhosis and previous refractory ascites demonstrate subtle sodium retention when challenged with a high sodium load. This is also observed in pre‐ascitic patients with cirrhosis. This phenomenon is dependent on an intrarenal angiotensin II (ANG II) mechanism related to the assumption of erect posture. We investigated whether similar mechanisms were involved in post‐TIPS ascites‐free patients, by studying 10 patients with functioning TIPS and no ascites.

Andreas Laras, John Koskinas, Evangelini Dimou, Ageliki Kostamena, Stephanos J. Hadziyannis – 29 August 2006 – Hepatitis B virus (HBV) covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) is responsible for viral persistence in the natural course of chronic HBV infection and during prolonged antiviral therapy and serves as the template for the production of HBV pregenomic RNA (pgRNA), the primary step in HBV replication.

Julien Crettaz, Pedro Berraondo, Itsaso Mauleón, Laura Ochoa, Vijay Shankar, Miguel Barajas, Nico van Rooijen, Stefan Kochanek, Cheng Qian, Jesús Prieto, Rubén Hernández‐Alcoceba, Gloria González‐Aseguinolaza – 29 August 2006 – Recombinant adenoviruses (Ad) are among the most extensively used vectors for liver gene transfer. One of the major limitations for the clinical application of these vectors is the inflammatory immune response associated with systemic administration of high dose of virus.

Carlos Guarner, José M. González‐Navajas, Elisabet Sánchez, Germán Soriando, Rubén Francés, Maite Chiva, Pedro Zapater, Susana Benlloch, Carlos Muñoz, Sonia Pascual, Joaquín Balanzó, Miguel Pérez‐Mateo, José Such – 29 August 2006 – Bacterial DNA (bactDNA) is present in blood and ascitic fluid (AF) in a third of patients with cirrhosis and ascites, but whether this phenomenon represents episodes of bacterial translocation (BT), strictly considered when culture of mesenteric lymph nodes (MLNs) are positive, remains unknown.

29 August 2006