Meike Hass, Charles Hannoun, Tatyana Kalinina, Gunhild Sommer, Christoph Manegold, Stephan Günther – 16 June 2005 – The biological properties of latent or occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) have been poorly characterized as a result of the extremely low virus concentration. This report describes the phenotype of HBV reactivating in two patients after an HBsAg‐negative latency period. One patient had latent HBV infection for at least 12 years without detectable viremia and symptoms of liver disease.

16 June 2005

Morris Sherman – 16 June 2005

Harvey J. Alter – 16 June 2005

Rafael Bañares, Oscar Núñez – 16 June 2005

Brian D. Juran, Konstantinos N. Lazaridis – 16 June 2005 – Cholesterol gallstone disease is characterized by several events, including cholesterol precipitation in bile, increased bile salt hydrophobicity and gallbladder inflammation. Here, we describe the same phenotype in mice lacking the bile acid receptor, FXR. Furthermore, in susceptible wild‐type mice that recapitulate human cholesterol gallstone disease, treatment with a synthetic FXR agonist prevented sequelae of the disease.

David Taïeb, Cédric Malicet, Stéphane Garcia, Palma Rocchi, Christiane Arnaud, Jean‐Charles Dagorn, Juan L. Iovanna, Sophie Vasseur – 16 June 2005 – The p8 protein is a transcription factor that regulates the expression of genes involved in cell defense against the adverse effects of stress. Its expression is strongly, rapidly, and transiently induced in most cells on exposure to various stress agents. This study assessed the role of p8 in the response of the liver to CCl4‐induced injury. We found that p8 was indeed overexpressed in the liver after CCl4 administration.

Teh‐Ia Huo, Jaw‐Ching Wu, Shou‐Dong Lee – 16 June 2005

Christopher R. Longo, Virendra I. Patel, Gautam V. Shrikhande, Salvatore T. Scali, Eva Csizmadia, Soizic Daniel, David W. Sun, Shane T. Grey, Maria B. Arvelo, Christiane Ferran – 16 June 2005 – The liver has a remarkable regenerative capacity, allowing recovery following injury. Regeneration after injury is contingent on maintenance of healthy residual liver mass, otherwise fulminant hepatic failure (FHF) may arise. Understanding the protective mechanisms safeguarding hepatocytes and promoting their proliferation is critical for devising therapeutic strategies for FHF.

Jordan J. Feld, Huong Dinh, Tamara Arenovich, Victoria A. Marcus, Ian R. Wanless, E. Jenny Heathcote – 13 June 2005 – Although the natural history of autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) has been characterized, little is known about patients who present asymptomatically. Consequently, whether they require immunosuppressive therapy with its associated complications is unclear. To compare the natural history of asymptomatic AIH with symptomatic AIH, a large cohort of patients from a single center was examined.