Hideyuki Nomura, Suketo Sou, Hironori Tanimoto, Takashi Nagahama, Yoichi Kimura, Jun Hayashi, Hiromi Ishibashi, Seizaburo Kashiwagi – 26 April 2004 – Acute hepatitis C often progresses to chronic infection. We undertook a randomized controlled trial to determine whether short‐term therapy with interferon (IFN) during acute hepatitis C is effective in preventing the development of chronic hepatitis. Thirty patients with acute hepatitis C were randomized into 1 of 2 treatment groups.

Archana Sud, Jason M. Hui, Geoffrey C. Farrell, Priyanka Bandara, James G. Kench, Carolyn Fung, Rita Lin, Dev Samarasinghe, Christopher Liddle, Geoffrey W. McCaughan, Jacob George – 26 April 2004 – We sought to develop a clinically useful index comprising standard and physiologically relevant variables to predict the probability of significant hepatic fibrosis in subjects with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Fibrosis was graded as mild (stages F0 or F1) or significant (stages F2–F4).

Steven F. Solga, Anna Mae Diehl – 26 April 2004

Thomas Berg, Christoph Sarrazin, Holger Hinrichsen, Peter Buggisch, Tilman Gerlach, Reinhart Zachoval, Stefan Zeuzem – 26 April 2004

Chun‐Tao Wai, Anna S. F. Lok – 26 April 2004

Alex França, Beatriz Lima, Antonio Pazin Filho, Whemberton Araújo, José Martinez, Benedito Maciel, Marcus Simões, João Terra Filho, Ana Martinelli – 26 April 2004

26 April 2004

Hannes Hentze, Markus Latta, Gerald Künstle, Saravanakumar Dhakshinamoorthy, Poh Yong Ng, Alan G. Porter, Albrecht Wendel – 26 April 2004 – Topoisomerases are nuclear enzymes that maintain and modulate DNA structure. Inhibitors of topoisomerases like camptothecin (CPT), etoposide, and others are widely used antitumor drugs that interfere with transcription, induce DNA strand breaks, and trigger apoptosis preferentially in dividing cells.

Zifei Pei, Liang Chu, Weiguo Zou, Zilai Zhang, Songbo Qiu, Rong Qi, Jinfa Gu, Cheng Qian, Xinyuan Liu – 26 April 2004 – Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) displays a high resistance to tumor necrosis factor–related apoptosis–inducing ligand (TRAIL)–mediated cell death. To increase sensitivity of HCC cells to TRAIL, we have constructed an oncolytic adenoviral vector (ZD55) and used this vector to deliver second mitochondria‐derived activator of caspases (Smac) and TRAIL genes (ZD55‐Smac and ZD55‐TRAIL, respectively) into HCC cells.

Sylvie Naveau, Sylvie Chollet‐Martin, Sébastien Dharancy, Philippe Mathurin, Pauline Jouet, Marie‐Astrid Piquet, Thierry Davion, Frédéric Oberti, Philippe Broët, Dominique Emilie, for the Foie‐Alcool group of the Association Française pour l'Etude du Foie (AFEF) – 26 April 2004 – Tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α) may contribute to the progression of acute alcoholic hepatitis (AAH). The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of an association of infliximab and prednisolone at reducing the 2‐month mortality rate among patients with severe AAH.