Wei‐Chen Lee, Hui‐Chuan Wang, Long‐Bin Jeng, Yang‐Jen Chiang, Chen‐Rong Lia, Pei‐Fang Huang, Miin‐Fu Chen, Shiguang Qian, Lina Lu – 30 December 2003 – Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common malignancy with a poor prognosis. This investigation examined whether dendritic cell–based immunotherapy can treat murine HCC effectively. Bone marrow–derived dendritic cells were propagated from C57BL/10J mice in GM‐CSF (4 ng/mL) and interleukin (IL)‐4 (1,000 μ/mL). The dendritic cells were pulsed with a Hepa1‐6 lysate overnight and employed to treat murine HCC.

Miwako Fujioka, Yutaka Nakashima, Osamu Nakashima, Masamichi Kojiro – 30 December 2003 – Sixty‐eight cases of single hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with less than 3 cm of diameter were immunohistochemically examined for the expressions of α‐fetoprotein (AFP) and protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist II (PIVKA‐II). In cancerous tissues, the expression rate was significantly higher for PIVKA‐II (34 cases [50%]) than AFP (21 cases [31%]) (P < .05), suggesting a higher specificity of PIVKA‐II to small HCC.

D. Montgomery Bissell – 30 December 2003

Rainer Gosert, Darius Moradpour – 30 December 2003

Javier Fernández, Miquel Navasa, Juliá Gómez, Jordi Colmenero, Jordi Vila, Vicente Arroyo, Juan Rodés – 30 December 2003 – The extensive use of invasive procedures and of long‐term norfloxacin prophylaxis in the management of cirrhotic patients may have influenced the epidemiology of bacterial infections in cirrhosis. We conducted a prospective evaluation of all bacterial infections diagnosed in patients with cirrhosis in a Liver Unit between April 1998 and April 2000. A total of 405 patients presented 572 bacterial infections in 507 admissions.

Elena Obrador, Julian Carretero, Angel Ortega, Ignacio Medina, Vicente Rodilla, José A. Pellicer, José M. Estrela – 30 December 2003 – B16 melanoma (B16M) cells with high glutathione (GSH) content show rapid proliferation in vitro and high metastatic activity in the liver in vivo. γ‐Glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT)‐mediated extracellular GSH cleavage and intracellular GSH synthesis were studied in vitro in B16M cells with high (F10) and low (F1) metastatic potential. GGT activity was modified by transfection with the human GGT gene (B16MF1/Tet‐GGT cells) or by acivicin‐induced inhibition.

Patrizia Latorre, Laura Rubbia‐Brandt, Emiliano Giostra, Karim Abid, Francesco Negro – 30 December 2003

M. Bishr Omary, Nam‐On Ku, Diana M. Toivola – 30 December 2003

Ton Lisman, Frank W.G. Leebeek, Karina Meijer, Jan Van Der Meer, H. Karel Nieuwenhuis, Philip G. De Groot – 30 December 2003 – Cirrhosis is associated with a bleeding tendency, which is particularly pronounced during orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). A novel approach to treating the bleeding diathesis of patients with cirrhosis is administration of recombinant factor VIIa (rFVIIa). This study examined whether the efficacy of rFVIIa in cirrhosis might be explained in part by enhanced down‐regulation of fibrinolysis by thrombin‐activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor (TAFI).

Ugochukwu C. Nzeako, Maria Eugenia Guicciardi, Jung‐Hwan Yoon, Steven F. Bronk, Gregory J. Gores – 30 December 2003 – Fas expression has been shown to negatively regulate the progression of cholangiocarcinoma cells in xenografts. However, many human cholangiocarcinomas express Fas, suggesting these cancers have developed mechanisms to inhibit Fas‐mediated apoptosis. Cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2), which generates prostanoids, is expressed by many cholangiocarcinomas.