Inhibitory activity of dioxolane purine analogs on wild‐type and lamivudine‐resistant mutants of hepadnaviruses

Béatrice Seignères, Christian Pichoud, Perrine Martin, Philip Furman, Christian Trépo, Fabien Zoulim – 30 December 2003 – To design combination strategies for chronic hepatitis B therapy, we evaluated in vitro the inhibitory activity of 4 nucleoside analogs, (−)FTC, L‐FMAU, DXG, and DAPD, in comparison with lamivudine (3TC) and PMEA.

Hepatitis C, cryoglobulinemia, and cirrhosis: A meta‐analysis

Zeid Kayali, Victor E. Buckwold, Bridget Zimmerman, Warren N. Schmidt – 30 December 2003 – Approximately 40% of patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection develop detectable serum cryoglobulins or cryoprecipitates (CP), although most do not show clinical or physical signs of syndromic cryoglobulinemia. Although association of HCV with the extrahepatic complications of cryoglobulinemia is widely recognized, the relationship of cryoglobulinemia with liver disease is unclear.

Proapoptotic and antiproliferative potential of selective cyclooxygenase‐2 inhibitors in human liver tumor cells

Michael André Kern, Dominic Schubert, Dina Sahi, Mirja Mareike Schöneweiß, Ilona Moll, Anke Maria Haugg, Hans Peter Dienes, Kai Breuhahn, Peter Schirmacher – 30 December 2003 – Recent studies have shown increased levels of cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2) in a variety of human malignancies, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but so far it is unknown whether COX‐2 contributes to the malignant growth and whether inhibition of COX‐2 function modifies the malignant potential of liver tumors.

Outcome of an outbreak of acute hepatitis C among healthy volunteers participating in pharmacokinetics studies

Alberto Larghi, Massimo Zuin, Andrea Crosignani, Maria Lisa Ribero, Cristina Pipia, Pier Maria Battezzati, Giorgio Binelli, Francesco Donato, Alessandro Remo Zanetti, Mauro Podda, Alessandro Tagger – 30 December 2003 – We identified 15 patients with acute hepatitis C (AHC) among 29 healthy volunteers participating in 2 consecutive pharmacokinetics studies. Molecular techniques were used to determine the relatedness of viral strains, whereas clinical and virologic follow‐up was started to establish the course and outcome of the acute infection.

Synergistic induction of apoptosis by acyclic retinoid and interferon‐β in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells

Akihiro Obora, Yoshimune Shiratori, Masataka Okuno, Seiji Adachi, Yukihiko Takano, Rie Matsushima‐Nishiwaki, Ichiro Yasuda, Yasuhiro Yamada, Kuniharu Akita, Tetsuro Sano, Jun Shimada, Soichi Kojima, Yukio Okano, Scott L. Friedman, Hisataka Moriwaki – 30 December 2003 – Acyclic retinoid, a synthetic retinoid analog, as well as interferon alfa (IFN‐α) and IFN‐β induce apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells and are used clinically in the prevention of HCC.

Specific systemic nonviral gene delivery to human hepatocellular carcinoma xenografts in SCID mice

Markus F. Wolschek, Christiane Thallinger, Malgorzata Kursa, Vanessa Rössler, Matthew Allen, Cornelia Lichtenberger, Ralf Kircheis, Trevor Lucas, Martin Willheim, Walter Reinisch, Alfred Gangl, Ernst Wagner, Burkhard Jansen – 30 December 2003 – Systemic tumor‐targeted gene delivery is attracting increasing attention as a promising alternative to conventional therapeutical strategies. To be considered as a viable option, however, the respective transgene has to be administered with high tumor specificity.

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