Anneke Funk, Mouna Mhamdi, Heinz Hohenberg, Hans Will, Hueseyin Sirma – 29 August 2006 – Entry and intracellular transport of hepatitis B viruses have several unusual, largely unknown aspects. In this study, we explored the mode of virus entry using the duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV) and the primary hepatocyte infection model. Upon internalization, viral particles were enriched in an endosomal compartment, as revealed by biochemical and ultrastructural analysis. Virus‐containing vesicles harbored early endosome markers.

Anaïs Vallet‐Pichard, Vincent Mallet, Stanislas Pol – 29 August 2006

Hyung Joon Yim, Munira Hussain, Ying Liu, Stephen N. Wong, Scott K. Fung, Anna S. F. Lok – 29 August 2006 – Multi‐drug resistant hepatitis B virus (HBV) has been reported in hepatitis B patients who received sequential antiviral therapy. In vitro studies showed that HBV constructs with mutations resistant to lamivudine and adefovir have marked reduction in sensitivity to combination of lamivudine and adefovir, whereas constructs with mutations resistant to either drug remain sensitive to the other drug.

29 August 2006

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.

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.

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.

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.

Elwyn Elias – 29 August 2006

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.