Calogero Cammà, Marco Giunta, Liliana Chemello, Alfredo Alberti, Hidenori Toyoda, Christian Trepo, Patrick Marcellin, Friederike Zahm, Solko Schalm, Antonio Craxì – 30 December 2003 – Relapse after interferon (IFN) therapy for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection occurs in 50% of patients after the initial response. The benefit of retreatment with IFN alone has not been assessed in large controlled studies.

Angela M. Madden, Marsha Y. Morgan – 30 December 2003 – Measurements of resting energy expenditure (REE) can be used to determine energy requirements. Prediction formulae can be used to estimate REE but have not been validated in cirrhotic patients. REE was measured, by indirect calorimetry, in 100 cirrhotic patients and 41 comparable healthy volunteers, and the results compared with estimates predicted using the Harris‐Benedict, Schofield, Mifflin, Cunningham, and Owen formulae, and the disease‐specific Müller formula.

Rafael Enriquez de Salamanca, Pablo Morales, M. Jose Castro, Ricardo Rojo, Mario Gonzalez, Antonio Arnaiz‐Villena – 30 December 2003

Andreas Cerny, Francis V. Chisari – 30 December 2003 – The immune response to viral antigens is thought to be responsible for viral clearance and disease pathogenesis during hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. In chronically infected patients, the T‐cell response to the HCV is polyclonal and multispecific, although it is not as strong as the response in acutely infected patients who display a more vigorous T‐cell response. Importantly, viral clearance in acutely infected patients is associated with a strong CD4+ helper T‐cell response.

Manuela Merli, Frida Leonetti, Oliviero Riggio, Valentina Valeriano, Mária Cristina Ribaudo, Fabio Sprati, Giuseppe Tisone, Carlo Umberto Casciani, Livio Capocaccia – 30 December 2003 – Cirrhosis is often associated with insulin resistance and glucose intolerance. We evaluated if these alterations are restored by liver transplantation (LT).

Daniel Ackermann, Bruno Vogt, Geneviève Escher, Bernhard Dick, Jürg Reichen, Brigitte M. Frey, Felix J. Frey – 30 December 2003 – Renal sodium retention and potassium loss occur early, in many instances in the preascitic state of cirrhosis, an observation that cannot be fully explained by increased aldosterone concentrations. We therefore hypothesize that 11β‐hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 2 (11β‐HSD2), which protects mineralocorticoid receptors (MR) from glucocorticosteroids, is down‐regulated in cirrhosis. Cirrhosis was induced by bile duct ligation in rats.

Wei‐Nan Lian, Jin‐Wu Tsai, Pang‐Mien Yu, Tzu‐Wei Wu, Shun‐Chun Yang, Yat‐Pang Chau, Chi‐Hung Lin – 30 December 2003 – We have used human hepatoma cell lines as an in vitro model to study the development of hepatic bile canaliculi (BC). Well‐differentiated hepatoma cells cultured for 72 hours could develop characteristic spheroid structures at sites of cell‐cell contact that contained tight junctions and various membrane protein markers, resembling BC found in vivo. Intact cytoskeleton was essential for this differentiation process.

Mitsuo Nagao, Yoshiyuki Nakajima, Michiyoshi Hisanaga, Nobuhiko Kayagaki, Hiromichi Kanehiro, Yukio Aomatsu, Saiho Ko, Hideo Yagita, Takatsugu Yamada, Ko Okumura, Hiroshige Nakano – 30 December 2003 – Escape from the immune surveillance may play an important role in tumor outgrowth and metastasis. Alteration of the Fas receptor (Fas)/ligand (FasL) system including soluble forms is regarded as one of the mechanisms preventing the immune system from rejecting the tumor cells. However, less attention has been paid to the role of Fas/FasL interaction in vivo.

Tomohide Tatsumi, Tetsuo Takehara, Tatsuya Kanto, Noriyoshi Kuzushita, Akihiko Ito, Akinori Kasahara, Yutaka Sasaki, Masatsugu Hori, Norio Hayashi – 30 December 2003 – Human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) frequently recurs after primary therapy, resulting in poor prognosis. To try to find a way to prevent this, we examined the combined effectiveness of B7‐1 (CD80)‐gene transfer and interleukin‐12 (IL‐12) on the induction of protective antitumor immunity against poorly immunogenic BNL1ME A.7R.1 (BNL) mouse HCC cells. We introduced mouse B7‐1 gene into BNL1ME A.7R.1 cells.

Janet Stephens, Mary Cosyns, Michelle Jones, Anthony Hayward – 30 December 2003 – Patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and boys with mutations of the CD154 gene (causing congenital X‐linked immunodeficiency with hyper‐IgM [XHIM]) are susceptible to chronic infections of the biliary tract with Cryptosporidium parvum (CP) that may lead to biliary sclerosis and ultimately to cholangiocarcinoma.