Naoya Kato, Guijin Ji, Yue Wang, Masanori Baba, Yujin Hoshida, Motoyuki Otsuka, Hiroyoshi Taniguchi, Masaru Moriyama, Narayan Dharel, Tadashi Goto, Run‐Xuan Shao, Tadashi Matsuura, Keisuke Ishii, Shuichiro Shiina, Takao Kawabe, Masaaki Muramatsu, Masao Omata – 20 September 2005 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major risk factor for developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The host genetic factors that are involved in the development of HCC in patients with HCV infection remain to be investigated.

Andrew P. Feranchak, Jane Gralla, Robert King, Rebecca O. Ramirez, Mary Corkill, Michael R. Narkewicz, Ronald J. Sokol – 20 September 2005 – Malabsorption of fat‐soluble vitamins is a major complication of chronic cholestatic liver disease. The most accurate way to assess vitamin A status in children who have cholestasis is unknown. The goal of this study was to assess the accuracy of noninvasive tests to detect vitamin A deficiency. Children with chronic cholestatic liver disease (n = 23) and noncholestatic liver disease (n = 10) were studied.

Qing‐gao Deng, Hongyun She, Jason H. Cheng, Samuel W. French, Dennis R. Koop, Shigang Xiong, Hidekazu Tsukamoto – 20 September 2005 – Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis is prevalent among obese individuals with excessive caloric intake, insulin resistance, and type II diabetes. However, no animal models exist that recapitulate this important association. This study produced and characterized steatohepatitis (SH) caused by intragastric overfeeding in mice.

J. Donald Ostrow, Claudio Tiribelli – 20 September 2005

Alan S. Perelson, Eva Herrmann, Florence Micol, Stefan Zeuzem – 20 September 2005 – Viral kinetic modeling has played an important role in the analysis of HCV RNA decay after the initiation of antiviral therapy. Models have provided a means of evaluating the antiviral effectiveness of therapy, of estimating parameters such as the rate of virion clearance and the rate of clearance of hepatitis C virus (HCV)–infected cells, and they have suggested mechanisms of action for both interferon and ribavirin.

Jay H. Hoofnagle – 20 September 2005

Robert F. Schwabe, Soeren V. Siegmund – 20 September 2005

Robert F. Schwabe – 20 September 2005 – Endogenous cannabinoids acting at CB1 receptors stimulate appetite, and CB1 antagonists show promise in the treatment of obesity. CB1−/− mice are resistant to diet‐induced obesity even though their caloric intake is similar to that of wild‐type mice, suggesting that endocannabinoids also regulate fat metabolism. Here, we investigated the possible role of endocannabinoids in the regulation of hepatic lipogenesis.

David McPherson – 20 September 2005

Xin Maggie Wang, Denise Ming Tse Yu, Geoffrey W. McCaughan, Mark D. Gorrell – 20 September 2005 – Injury and repair in chronic liver disease involve cell adhesion, migration, apoptosis, proliferation, and a wound healing response. In liver, fibroblast activation protein (FAP) has both collagenase and dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPIV) activities and is expressed only by activated hepatic stellate cells (HSC) and myofibroblasts, which produce and degrade extracellular matrix (ECM). FAP was colocalized with collagen fibers, fibronectin, and collagen type I in human liver.