Yasuhiro Terazaki, Shojiro Yano, Kentaro Yuge, Satoshi Nagano, Mari Fukunaga, Z. Sheng Guo, Setsuro Komiya, Kazuo Shirouzu, Ken‐ichiro Kosai – 30 December 2003 – The most serious problem in current gene therapy is discrepancies between experimental data and actual clinical outcomes, which may be due to insufficient analyses and/or inappropriate animal models. We have explored suicide gene therapy by using various clinically relevant animal models and doubt the clinical use of maximal suicide gene expression, which has been generally recommended.

Jonathan A. Dranoff, Emma A. Kruglov, Simon C. Robson, Norbert Braun, Herbert Zimmermann, Jean Sévigny – 30 December 2003 – Extracellular nucleotides regulate diverse biological functions and are important in the regulation of liver metabolism, hepatic blood flow, and bile secretion. Ecto‐nucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolases (NTPDases) hydrolyze extracellular nucleotides and are therefore potential regulators of nucleotide‐mediated signaling.

Marion G. Peters, Norah A. Terrault – 30 December 2003 – Excess alcohol consumption can worsen the course and outcome of chronic hepatitis C. It is important to distinguish between alcohol abuse, which must be treated on its own merits, and the effect of alcohol use on progression, severity, and treatment of hepatitis C. Most studies on the effects of alcohol on hepatitis C have focused on patients with high levels of daily alcohol intake.

Steven W. M. Olde Damink, Rajiv Jalan, Doris N. Redhead, Peter C. Hayes, Nicolaas E. P. Deutz, Peter B. Soeters – 30 December 2003 – Ammonia is central to the pathogenesis of hepatic encephalopathy. This study was designed to determine the quantitative dynamics of ammonia metabolism in patients with cirrhosis and previous treatment with a transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic stent shunt (TIPSS). We studied 24 patients with cirrhosis who underwent TIPSS portography.

Lihua Ming, Snorri S. Thorgeirsson, Mitchell H. Gail, Peixin Lu, Curtis C. Harris, Nengjin Wang, Yongfu Shao, Zhiyuan Wu, Guoting Liu, Xiaohong Wang, Zongtang Sun – 30 December 2003 – We assessed the separate and combined effects of hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and aflatoxin in causing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in Qidong, China. A consecutive series of 181 pathologic‐diagnosed HCC cases were studied for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), anti‐HBc, HBV X gene sequence, anti‐HCV, the 249ser‐p53 mutation, and chronic hepatitis pathology.

Supriya Joshi, E. Jenny Heathcote – 30 December 2003

Rolando Ortega, Pere Ginès, Juan Uriz, Andrés Cárdenas, Blas Calahorra, Dara De Las Heras, Mónica Guevara, Ramón Bataller, Wladimiro Jiménez, Vicente Arroyo, Juan Rodés – 30 December 2003 – Vasopressin analogues associated with albumin improve renal function in hepatorenal syndrome (HRS). The current study was aimed at assessing the efficacy of the treatment, predictive factors of response, recurrence of HRS, and survival after therapy.

Yu Wei, Jeanne Tran Van Nhieu, Sylvie Prigent, Petcharin Srivatanakul, Pierre Tiollais, Marie‐Annick Buendia – 30 December 2003 – E‐cadherin is a key cell adhesion protein implicated as a tumor/invasion suppressor in human carcinomas and a binding partner of β‐catenin, which plays a critical role in Wnt signaling and in tumorigenesis. Here we report genetic and expression studies of E‐cadherin and β‐catenin in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Anne‐Marie Preaux, Marie‐Pia D'Ortho, Marie‐Pierre Bralet, Yannick Laperche, Philippe Mavier – 30 December 2003 – Liver fibrosis is potentially reversible after removal of the injurious agent. Fibrosis resolution is characterized by apoptosis of hepatic myofibroblasts and degradation of extracellular matrix components. Matrix metalloproteinase‐2 (MMP‐2) is involved in matrix remodeling. In the liver, it is synthesized by myofibroblasts, secreted as a proenzyme, and activated by membrane type‐MMPs (MT‐MMP) such as MT1‐MMP.

Peter Nagy, Tadahisa Teramoto, Valentina M. Factor, Aranzazu Sanchez, Janos Schnur, Sandor Paku, Snorri S. Thorgeirsson – 30 December 2003 – The liver has an extremely effective regenerative capacity. When 70% of a rat liver is removed by surgery, the liver mass regrows in 7 to 10 days by the compensatory hyperplasia of the remnant part. In case of damage to the surviving hepatocytes, the facultative stem‐cell compartment is activated and the liver regenerates by means of oval‐cell proliferation/differentiation.