Ariel E. Feldstein, Nathan W. Werneburg, Ali Canbay, Maria Eugenia Guicciardi, Steven F. Bronk, Robert Rydzewski, Laurence J. Burgart, Gregory J. Gores – 30 June 2004 – Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a serious health problem. Although NAFLD represents a form of lipotoxicity, its pathogenesis remains poorly understood. The aim of this study was to examine the cellular mechanisms involved in free fatty acid (FFA)‐mediated hepatic lipotoxicity.

Makoto Asamoto, Naomi Hokaiwado, Toshiya Murasaki, Tomoyuki Shirai – 30 June 2004 – Connexins are subunits of gap junction channels, which allow direct transfer of ions, secondary messenger molecules, and other metabolites between contacting cells. Gap junctions are believed to be involved in tissue homeostasis, embryonic development, and control of cell proliferation. Several studies have shown that cell damage signals are transmitted through gap junctions when cells are irradiated or when cells bearing the herpes simplex virus‐thymidine kinase (HSV‐TK) gene are treated with ganciclovir.

Ruben R. Plentz, Martin Caselitz, Joerg S. Bleck, Michael Gebel, Peer Flemming, Stefan Kubicka, Michael P. Manns, K. Lenhard Rudolph – 30 June 2004 – The telomere hypothesis of cancer initiation indicates that telomere shortening initiates cancer by induction of chromosomal instability. To test whether this hypothesis applies to human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), we analyzed the telomere length of hepatocytes in cytological smears of fine‐needle biopsies of liver tumors from patients with cirrhosis (n = 39).

Camilla S. Graham, Michael Curry, Qi He, Nezam Afdhal, David Nunes, Catherine Fleming, Robert Horsburgh, Donald Craven, Kenneth E. Sherman, Margaret James Koziel – 30 June 2004 – Persons with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatits C virus (HCV) coinfection are at increased risk for progression to cirrhosis compared with persons with HCV alone, but the reasons for this are unclear.

Christine Ovejero, Catherine Cavard, Axel Périanin, Theodorus Hakvoort, Jacqueline Vermeulen, Cécile Godard, Monique Fabre, Philippe Chafey, Kazuo Suzuki, Béatrice Romagnolo, Satoshi Yamagoe, Christine Perret – 30 June 2004 – To clarify molecular mechanisms underlying liver carcinogenesis induced by aberrant activation of Wnt pathway, we isolated the target genes of β‐catenin from mice exhibiting constitutive activated β‐catenin in the liver. Adenovirus‐mediated expression of oncogenic β‐catenin was used to isolate early targets of β‐catenin in the liver.

Doris B. Strader, Teresa L. Wright, David L. Thomas, Leonard B. Seeff – 30 June 2004

Kojiro Matsumoto, Hiroki Ishikawa, Daisuke Nishimura, Keisuke Hamasaki, Kazuhiko Nakao, Katsumi Eguchi – 30 June 2004 – Pigment epithelium‐derived factor (PEDF) is one of the most powerful endogenous antiangiogenic reagents discovered to date. Its antiangiogenic potential in neoplastic disease remains unclear. In this study, we investigated antiangiogenic property of PEDF in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a typical hypervascular tumor. In HCC cell lines, constitutive messenger RNA and protein expression of PEDF varied.

William M. Lee – 30 June 2004 – Acetaminophen overdose is the leading cause for calls to Poison Control Centers (>100,000/year) and accounts for more than 56,000 emergency room visits, 2,600 hospitalizations, and an estimated 458 deaths due to acute liver failure each year. Data from the U.S. Acute Liver Failure Study Group registry of more than 700 patients with acute liver failure across the United States implicates acetaminophen poisoning in nearly 50% of all acute liver failure in this country.

Ezequiel Neimark, Frank Chen, Xiaoping Li, Benjamin L. Shneider – 30 June 2004 – Ileal expression of the apical sodium‐dependent bile acid transporter (ASBT) in the rat is unaffected by bile salts, yet in the mouse it is under negative‐feedback regulation. The bile acid responsiveness of human ASBT is unknown.

Mark J. Czaja – 30 June 2004