Rebecca Lim, Belinda Knight, Keyur Patel, John G. McHutchison, George C. Yeoh, John K. Olynyk – 20 April 2006 – Hepatic progenitor cells (called oval cells in rodents) proliferate during chronic liver injury. They have been suggested as targets of malignant transformation in chronic liver diseases, including chronic hepatitis C. Interferon alpha therapy reduces the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in chronic hepatitis C regardless of viral clearance.

Hyo‐Suk Lee, Young‐Hwa Chung, KwanSik Lee, Kwan Soo Byun, Seung Woon Paik, Joon‐Yeol Han, Kwon Yoo, Hee‐Won Yoo, Jin Heon Lee, Byung Chul Yoo – 20 April 2006 – Clevudine is a nucleoside analog with an unnatural β‐L configuration. In a phase I/II clinical trial, once daily doses ranging from 10 to 200 mg for 28 days were well tolerated, and produced significant antiviral activity. The present study was conducted to assess the degree and durability of the antiviral response to 12 weeks of clevudine treatment, and to investigate its safety and tolerability.

Glenda G. Callender, Hugo R. Rosen, Jeffrey J. Roszkowski, Gretchen E. Lyons, Mingli Li, Tamson Moore, Natasha Brasic, Mark D. McKee, Michael I. Nishimura – 20 April 2006 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been reported to elicit B and T cell immunity in infected patients. Despite the presence of antiviral immunity, many patients develop chronic infections leading to cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and liver failure that can require transplantation.

Masaki Nagaya, Sunao Kubota, Noboru Suzuki, Katsuya Akashi, Toshihiro Mitaka – 20 April 2006 – Focal injury of the adult liver causes formation of granulomatous tissue and fibrosis. When thermoreversible gelation polymer (TGP) was applied to such defects of the rat liver, complete recovery of hepatic tissues was observed without granulation. We analyzed the mechanism of the regeneration. TGP is a chemically synthesized biocompatible polymer material whose sol‐gel transition is reversible by changing the temperature. Cooled TGP was poured into a penetration lesion of the rat liver.

Didier Samuel, Jean‐Charles Duclos‐Vallee – 20 April 2006

Baburao Koneru, Mark J. Sterling, Phillip F. Bahramipour – 20 April 2006

Georgios K. Glantzounis, Brian R. Davidson – 20 April 2006

Yock Young Dan, Chun Tao Wai, Khay Guan Yeoh, Seng Gee Lim – 20 April 2006 – Hepatitis B immunoglobulin with lamivudine prophylaxis (LAM/HBIG) is effective in preventing Hepatitis B (HBV) recurrence posttransplant but is expensive and inconvenient. Lamivudine‐resistant HBV, which has limited the usefulness of lamivudine monoprophylaxis in transplant, can now be effectively controlled with adefovir dipivoxil.

Eliza Wiercinska, Lucia Wickert, Bernd Denecke, Harun M. Said, Jafar Hamzavi, A. M. Gressner, Midori Thorikay, Peter ten Dijke, Peter R. Mertens, Katja Breitkopf, Steven Dooley – 20 April 2006 – Transforming growth factor (TGF)‐β is critically involved in the activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) that occurs during the process of liver damage, for example, by alcohol, hepatotoxic viruses, or aflatoxins. Overexpression of the TGF‐β antagonist Smad7 inhibits transdifferentiation and arrests HSCs in a quiescent stage.

Jesús Medina, Ricardo Moreno‐Otero – 20 April 2006