Wan‐Cheng Chow, Nathalie Boyer, Michele Pouteau, Corinne Castelnau, Michele Martinot‐Peignoux, Veronique Martins‐Amado, Francoise Degos, Crina Maghinici, Martine Sinegre, Jean‐Pierre Benhamou, Claude Degott, Serge Erlinger, Patrick Marcellin – 30 December 2003 – Treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C has had limited success because of relapses and nonresponse to interferon alfa therapy (currently the only established therapeutic agent).

Qin Su, Claus H. Schröder, Walter J. Hofmann, Gerd Otto, Rudolf Pichlmayr, Peter Bannasch – 30 December 2003 – Transactivation of cellular genes and functional inactivation of p53 by the hepatitis B virus (HBV) X gene‐encoded protein (HBx) are proposed as alternative mechanisms for induction of hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) in chronic HBV infection. Using an immunohistochemical approach, we studied the expression of HBx in 39 explanted livers with HBV‐associated disease.

30 December 2003

Elisabetta Borghesio, Floriano Rosina, Antonina Smedile, Marco Lagget, Maria Grazia Niro, Giovanni Marinucci, Mario Rizzetto – 30 December 2003 – The kinetics of the immunoglobulin (Ig) M type antibody to the hepatitis D virus (IgM anti‐HD) were investigated in hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) carriers with chronic hepatitis D treated with interferon (IFN) and in patients with terminal hepatitis delta virus (HDV) cirrhosis who underwent liver transplantation.

Eric E. Mast, Miriam J. Alter, Paul V. Holland, Robert H. Purcell – 30 December 2003 – Few data are available to evaluate the performance of existing assays for antibody to the hepatitis E virus (anti‐HEV). A panel of 164 randomized and coded sera was tested for anti‐HEV by 12 different assays.

Jinning Lou, Leo Bühler, Shaoping Deng, Gilles Mentha, Roberto Montesano, Georges E. Grau, Philippe Morel – 30 December 2003 – Primary graft dysfunction is a major complication of orthotopic liver transplantation, and hepatic ischemic reperfusion injury is considered to be its major determinant cause. Although oxygen free radicals play an important role, leukocytes, cytokines, and adhesion molecules also contribute to hepatic ischemic reperfusion injury.

Angela D. Burgstahler, Michael H. Nathanson – 30 December 2003

Nirina Rajho Meerson, Danièle Delautier, Anne‐Marie Durand‐Schneider, Alain Moreau, Michael L. Schilsky, Irmin Sternlieb, Gérard Feldmann, Michèle Maurice – 30 December 2003 – Alkaline phosphodiesterase (APDE) is associated with the cellular plasma membrane of many organs. Several isoforms are also detected in normal human serum and their respective amounts vary in liver diseases but their significance is unknown.

Aldo Roda, Francesco Piazza, Mario Baraldini, Ester Speroni, Maria Clelia Guerra, Carolina Cerré, Giorgio Cantelli Forti – 30 December 2003 – The prevention of the hepatotoxic effects produced by intravenous infusion of taurochenodeoxycholic acid (TCDCA) by coinfusion with taurohyodeoxycholic acid (THDCA) was evaluated in bile fistula rats; the hepatoprotective effects of the latter were also compared with those of tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA).

Bryon E. Petersen, Julie P. Goff, Joel S. Greenberger, George K. Michalopoulos – 30 December 2003 – Hepatic oval cells (HOC) are a small subpopulation of cells found in the liver when hepatocyte proliferation is inhibited and followed by some type of hepatic injury. HOC can be induced to proliferate using a 2‐acetylaminofluorene (2‐AAF)/hepatic injury (i.e., CCl4 , partial hepatectomy [PHx]) protocol. These cells are believed to be bipotential, i.e., able to differentiate into hepatocytes or bile ductular cells.