Yoichi Chida, Nobuyuki Sudo, Junko Sonoda, Hiroshi Sogawa, Chiharu Kubo – 25 March 2004 – Recently, liver natural killer T (NKT) cells, which are specifically stimulated by α‐galactosylceramide (α‐GalCer), were found to play a critical role in intrahepatic immunity to several infections and certain hepatic disorders. However, the role of psychophysical stress on NKT cell–dependent liver injury induced by α‐GalCer still remains to be elucidated.

Harvey J. Alter – 25 March 2004

James R. Jacob, Agnes Sterczer, Ilia A. Toshkov, Amy E. Yeager, Brent E. Korba, Paul J. Cote, Marie‐Annick Buendia, John L. Gerin, Bud C. Tennant – 25 March 2004 – Integrations of woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV) DNA and rearrangements of the N‐myc 2 gene have been detected frequently in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) of Eastern woodchucks (Marmota monax) chronically infected with WHV.

Jacquelyn J. Maher – 25 March 2004

Chengbin Wang, Jianming Tang, Wei Song, Elena Lobashevsky, Craig M. Wilson, Richard A. Kaslow – 25 March 2004 – Variable immune responses to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and recombinant HBV vaccines have been associated with polymorphisms in several genes within the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) complex.

Pietro Invernizzi, Domenico Alvaro, Andrea Crosignani, Eugenio Gaudio, Mauro Podda – 25 March 2004

Raffaele Iorio, Mariangela D'Ambrosi, Matilde Marcellini, Christiana Barbera, Giuseppe Maggiore, Lucia Zancan, Raffaella Giacchino, Pietro Vajro, Maria Grazia Marazzi, Ruggiero Francavilla, Fabio Michielutti, Massimo Resti, Tullio Frediani, Maria Pastore, Angela Vegnente – 25 March 2004

Pascal Lapierre, Idriss Djilali‐Saiah, Susana Vitozzi, Fernando Alvarez – 25 March 2004 – Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is characterized by an immune‐mediated injury of the hepatic parenchyma of unknown pathogenesis. Type 2 AIH is identified by the presence of anti‐liver‐kidney microsomes type 1 (anti‐LKM1) and anti‐liver cytosol type 1 (anti‐LC1) autoantibodies. The current study shows that a murine model of AIH can be generated by DNA immunization against type 2 AIH self‐antigens (P450 2D6 and formiminotransferase‐cyclodeaminase).

Zichen Zhang, Guan‐Hua Lai, Alphonse E. Sirica – 25 March 2004 – Recently, we demonstrated that the cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2) inhibitor celecoxib acts to significantly suppress the growth of rat C611B cholangiocarcinoma (ChC) cells in vitro. To establish a molecular mechanism for this growth suppression, we investigated the effects of celecoxib on apoptotic signaling pathways in cultured rat C611B ChC cells.

Armelle Poujol‐Robert, Pierre‐Yves Boëlle, Raoul Poupon, Annie Robert – 25 March 2004