Influence of hepatic venous pressure gradient on the prediction of survival of patients with cirrhosis in the MELD Era

Cristina Ripoll, Rafael Bañares, Diego Rincón, María‐Vega Catalina, Oreste Lo Iacono, Magdalena Salcedo, Gerardo Clemente, Oscar Núñez, Ana Matilla, Luis‐Miguel Molinero – 20 September 2005 – Measurements of portal pressure, usually obtained via the hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) may be a prognostic marker in cirrhosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of HVPG on survival in patients with cirrhosis in addition to the Model for End‐Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score.

Alendronate improves bone mineral density in primary biliary cirrhosis: A randomized placebo‐controlled trial

Claudia O. Zein, Roberta A. Jorgensen, Bart Clarke, Doris E. Wenger, Jill C. Keach, Paul Angulo, Keith D. Lindor – 20 September 2005 – Bone loss is a well‐recognized complication of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). Although it has been suggested that alendronate might improve bone mineral density (BMD) in PBC, no randomized placebo‐controlled trial has been conducted. The primary aim of this study was to compare the effects of alendronate versus placebo on BMD and biochemical measurements of bone turnover in patients with PBC‐associated bone loss.

Dietary factors alter hepatic innate immune system in mice with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Zhiping Li, Mark J. Soloski, Anna Mae Diehl – 20 September 2005 – Dietary factors promote obesity and obesity‐related disorders, such as fatty liver disease. Natural killer T (NKT) cells are components of the innate immune system that regulate proinflammatory (Th‐1) and anti‐inflammatory (Th‐2) immune responses.

CTLA‐4Ig suppresses liver injury by inhibiting acquired immune responses in a mouse model of fulminant hepatitis

Yasuhiro Nakayama, Yukihiro Shimizu, Katsuharu Hirano, Kazumi Ebata, Masami Minemura, Akiharu Watanabe, Toshiro Sugiyama – 20 September 2005 – Expression of costimulatory molecules is significantly upregulated in various organs in an animal model of severe hepatitis induced by injection of Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS). In the present study, we examined whether blockade of costimulatory signals by CTLA‐4Ig can suppress the liver injury in this model.

Cholesterol accumulation and liver cell death in mice with Niemann‐Pick type C disease

Eduardo P. Beltroy, James A. Richardson, Jay D. Horton, Stephen D. Turley, John M. Dietschy – 20 September 2005 – Niemann‐Pick type C (NPC) disease develops as a result of mutations in the NPC1 gene that encodes a protein involved in the net movement of unesterified cholesterol from the late endosomal/lysosomal compartment to the metabolically active pool of sterol in the cytosol of virtually every cell in the body.

Intrahepatic CD8+ T‐cell failure during chronic hepatitis C virus infection

Hans Christian Spangenberg, Sergei Viazov, Nadine Kersting, Christoph Neumann‐Haefelin, Denise McKinney, Michael Roggendorf, Fritz von Weizsäcker, Hubert E. Blum, Robert Thimme – 20 September 2005 – The precise mechanisms responsible for the failure of intrahepatic hepatitis C virus (HCV)‐specific CD8+ T cells to control the virus during persistent infection have not been fully defined. We therefore studied the CD8+ T‐cell response in 27 HLA‐A2–positive patients using four previously well‐defined HLA‐A2–restricted HCV epitopes.

Hepatitis C virus inhibits intracellular interferon alpha expression in human hepatic cell lines

Ting Zhang, Rong‐Tuan Lin, Yuan Li, Steven D. Douglas, Catherine Maxcey, Chun Ho, Jian‐Ping Lai, Yan‐Jian Wang, Qi Wan, Wen‐Zhe Ho – 20 September 2005 – The chronicity of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection raises the question of how HCV is able to persist in hepatic cells. We show that human primary hepatocytes and human hepatic cell lines (Huh7 and HepG2) spontaneously produce interferon (IFN)‐α that is inhibited in the HCV replicon cells (Huh.8 and FCA‐1).

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