Mark A. Exley, Margaret James Koziel – 14 October 2004 – Much of the hepatology literature to date has focused on the adaptive, antigen‐specific response mediated by classical T‐cell populations in both the protection and pathogenesis of liver disease. However, the liver is selectively enriched for cells representative of innate immunity, including natural killer T (NKT) cells. In particular, certain CD1d‐reactive T cells are present at much higher frequencies in the liver than in the peripheral blood.

Gene D. LeSage, Domenico Alvaro, Shannon Glaser, Heather Francis, Luca Marucci, Tania Roskams, Jo Lynne Phinizy, Marco Marzioni, Antonio Benedetti, Silvia Taffetani, Barbara Barbaro, Giammarco Fava, Yoshiyuki Ueno, Gianfranco Alpini – 14 October 2004 – Acetylcholine potentiates secretin‐stimulated ductal secretion by Ca2+‐calcineurin–mediated modulation of adenylyl cyclase. D2 dopaminergic receptor agonists inhibit secretin‐stimulated ductal secretion via activation of protein kinase C (PKC)‐γ.

Marlys Hearst Witte – 14 October 2004

Kazuyoshi Kon, Jae‐Sung Kim, Hartmut Jaeschke, John J. Lemasters – 14 October 2004 – Acetaminophen overdose causes massive hepatic failure via mechanisms involving glutathione depletion, oxidative stress, and mitochondrial dysfunction. The ultimate target of acetaminophen causing cell death remains uncertain, and the role of apoptosis in acetaminophen‐induced cell killing is still controversial. Our aim was to evaluate the mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT) as a key factor in acetaminophen‐induced necrotic and apoptotic killing of primary cultured mouse hepatocytes.

Gerald Y. Minuk, Dong Feng Sun, Rebecca Greenberg, Manna Zhang, Kimberly Hawkins, Julia Uhanova, Adam Gutkin, Kevin Bernstein, Antonio Giulivi, Carla Osiowy – 14 October 2004 – Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections continue to occur in adult hemodialysis units. A possible contributing factor is the presence of occult HBV (serum hepatitis B surface antigen [HBsAg] negative but HBV DNA positive). Two hundred forty‐one adult hemodialysis patients were screened for occult HBV.

Piotr Milkiewicz, Jenny Heathcote – 14 October 2004 – The mechanisms that cause the female predominance of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) are uncertain, but the X chromosome includes genes involved in immunological tolerance. We assessed the rate of X monosomy in peripheral white blood cells from 100 women with PBC, 50 with chronic hepatitis C, and 50 healthy controls, by fluorescence in‐situ hybridisation.

Motoaki Imose, Masahito Nagaki, Kiminori Kimura, Shinji Takai, Motohiro Imao, Takafumi Naiki, Yosuke Osawa, Takahiko Asano, Hideki Hayashi, Hisataka Moriwaki – 28 September 2004 – Leflunomide is a novel immunosuppressive and anti‐inflammatory agent for the treatment of autoimmune disease. The aim of this study was to investigate whether leflunomide protects from liver injury induced by concanavalin A (Con A), a T‐cell–dependent model of liver damage. BALB/c mice were injected with 25 mg/kg Con A in the presence or absence of 30 mg/kg leflunomide.

Shoshiro Oe, Eric R. Lemmer, Elizabeth A. Conner, Valentina M. Factor, Per Levéen, Jonas Larsson, Stefan Karlsson, Snorri S. Thorgeirsson – 22 September 2004 – Transforming growth factor β (TGF‐β) is a potent inhibitor of hepatocyte proliferation in vitro and is suggested to be a key negative regulator of liver growth.

Christopher J. Parsons, Blair U. Bradford, Clark Q. Pan, Ellen Cheung, Michael Schauer, Andreas Knorr, Barbara Krebs, Sabine Kraft, Stefan Zahn, Bodo Brocks, Nikki Feirt, Baisong Mei, Myung‐Sam Cho, Roopa Ramamoorthi, Greg Roldan, Paul Ng, Peggy Lum, Claudia Hirth‐Dietrich, Adrian Tomkinson, David A. Brenner – 22 September 2004 – Liver fibrosis is characterized by increased synthesis, and decreased degradation, of extracellular matrix (ECM) within the injured tissue.

Martial Jaume, Sébastien Jacquet, Pierre Cavaillès, Gaëtane Macé, Lionel Stephan, Catherine Blanpied, Cécile Demur, Pierre Brousset, Gilles Dietrich – 22 September 2004 – Fas (CD95)‐induced hepatocyte apoptosis and cytotoxic activity of neutrophils infiltrating the injured liver are two major events leading to hepatitis. Because it has been reported that opioids, via a direct interaction, sensitize splenocytes to Fas‐mediated apoptosis by upregulating Fas messenger RNA (mRNA) and modulated neutrophil activity, we assumed that opioids may participate in the pathophysiology of hepatitis.