Vicente Carreño, Patrick Marcellin, Stephanos Hadziyannis, Javier Salmerón, Moisés Diago, Geoge E. Kitis, Irene Vafiadis, Solko W. Schalm, Friederike Zahm, Félix Manzarbeitia, F. Javier Jiménez, Juan Antonio Quiroga – 30 December 2003 – Fifty‐seven patients with chronic hepatitis B, hepatitis B virus (HBV) e antigen (HBeAg) and HBV DNA positivity, and aminotransferase elevation despite a previous course of any type of adequate interferon alfa (IFN‐α) therapy were included in a multicenter prospective randomized controlled trial.

Raymundo Paraná, Ludmila Vitvitski, Zilton Andrade, Christian Trepo, Helma Cotrim, Pascale Bertillon, Fernanda Silva, Luciana Silva, Irismar R. de Oliveira, Luis Lyra – 30 December 2003 – In a 4‐year follow‐up study, patients with acute sporadic non‐A, non‐B (NANB) hepatitis were evaluated to determine the etiology and natural history of the disease. Acute hepatitis C virus (HCV) was detected in 13 of 43 (30%) of patients, anti–hepatitis E virus (HEV) IgG in 5 (12%), and 25 (58%) were considered non–A‐E. The HCV RNA was detected in all HCV patients but none of the non–A‐E cases.

Hirohito Tsubouchi – 30 December 2003

Rene Davila, Emmet B. Keeffe – 30 December 2003

C.‐Thomas Bock, Hans L. Tillmann, Michael P. Manns, Christian Trautwein – 30 December 2003 – The functional role of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) pre‐S region for assembly and appearance of the virus is not completely understood. In this study, 3 natural‐occurring mutants were investigated. Three mutants of the pre‐S region—a point mutation in the CCAAT box (MUT1), a 6‐bp deletion (MUT2) 3′ of the CCAAT box, and a 153‐bp deletion (MUT3) in the preS2 domain—were cloned alone or in combinations in replication‐competent HBV plasmids and transfected in hepatoma cells.

Catherine J. Edwards‐Smith, Julie R. Jonsson, David M. Purdie, Amolak Bansal, Claudia Shorthouse, Elizabeth E. Powell – 30 December 2003 – Serum levels of interleukin‐10 (IL‐10) are elevated in a proportion of patients with untreated chronic hepatitis C, and this may compromise the host immune response to the virus. The capacity for IL‐10 production varies according to the genetic composition of the IL‐10 locus.

Jenny Heathcote, John McHutchison, Samuel Lee, Myron Tong, Kent Benner, Gerald Minuk, Teresa Wright, John Fikes, Brian Livingston, Alex Sette, Robert Chestnut – 30 December 2003 – Clinical observations suggest that eradication of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) is immune‐mediated. Vigorous cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) activity directed at HLA class I–bound viral epitopes are detected during acute hepatitis B, but not in chronic hepatitis B carriers.

Osamu Isokawa, Takeshi Suda, Yutaka Aoyagi, Hirokazu Kawai, Takashi Yokota, Toru Takahashi, Kazuhiro Tsukada, Takeaki Shimizu, Shigeki Mori, Yoichi Abe, Yasafumi Suzuki, Minoru Nomoto, Yusaku Mita, Masahiko Yanagi, Hirotaka Igarashi, Hitoshi Asakura – 30 December 2003 – Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) mainly arises from the liver with chronic inflammation. Because telomere reduction reflects replicative history in somatic cells, we analyzed the possibility that liver tissues surrounding HCC consist of the cells carrying substantial reduction of telomere.

30 December 2003

Jörg Heller, Philippe Sogni, Khalid A. Tazi, Carine Chagneau, Odile Poirel, Richard Moreau, Didier Lebrec – 30 December 2003 – Hyporeactivity to vasoconstrictors in aortae from portal vein‐stenosed rats is associated with an increased activity of endothelial NO synthase (NOS3). In contrast, during sepsis, which is common in cirrhosis, vascular hyporeactivity is associated with an induction of inducible NOS2.