Carl Albrecht Schirren, Maria‐Christina Jung, Joern Tilman Gerlach, Thomas Worzfeld, Gustavo Baretton, Maxim Mamin, Norbert Hubert Gruener, Michael Houghton, Gerd Rudolf Pape – 30 December 2003 – Virus‐specific CD4+ T‐cell response at the site of inflammation is believed to play a decisive role for the course of viral disease. In hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, the majority of studies focused on the peripheral blood T‐cell response. In this study we analyzed intrahepatic virus‐specific CD4+ T‐cell response and compared this with that in the peripheral blood.

Yun‐Fan Liaw, Sun‐Lung Tsai, Rong‐Nan Chien, Chau‐Ting Yeh, Chia‐Ming Chu – 30 December 2003 – Asian lamivudine trial has shown that hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) seroconversion rate during 1 year of lamivudine therapy was only 16% but was 64% in the subgroup of patients with a pretherapy serum alanine transaminase (ALT) level over 5 times the upper limit of normal (ULN). To test whether ALT rebound following corticosteroid priming enhances response to lamivudine therapy, a pilot study was conducted in 30 patients with ALT levels less than 5× ULN (43‐169; N < 36 U/L).

Luis Felipe Barros, Andrés Stutzin, Andrea Calixto, Marcelo Catalán, Joel Castro, Claudio Hetz, Tamara Hermosilla – 30 December 2003 – Necrosis, as opposed to apoptosis, is recognized as a nonspecific cell death that induces tissue inflammation and is preceded by cell edema. In non‐neuronal cells, the latter has been explained by defective outward pumping of Na+ caused by metabolic depletion or by increased Na+ influx via membrane transporters.

Steve J. Cheng, Peter A. L. Bonis, Joseph Lau, Nhu Q. Pham, John B. Wong – 30 December 2003 – The efficacy of interferon (IFN) combined with ribavirin for the treatment of patients with hepatitis C who failed to respond to initial IFN therapy is not well established. The primary goal of this study was to perform a systematic review of the literature evaluating the efficacy of combination therapy in nonresponders. Studies were retrieved from MEDLINE, abstracts of scientific meetings, and review of the bibliographies of retrieved studies.

Peter R. Sinclair, Nadia Gorman, Heidi S. Walton, William J. Bement, Jacqueline F. Sinclair, Glenn S. Gerhard, Juliana G. Szakacs, Nancy C. Andrews, Joanne E. Levy – 30 December 2003 – Porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT), a liver disease with skin lesions caused by excess liver production of uroporphyrin (URO), is associated with consumption of alcoholic beverages or estrogens, and moderate iron overload. Recently, it has been shown that many PCT patients carry mutations in the HFE gene, which is responsible for hereditary hemochromatosis.

Robert P. Perrillo, Teresa Wright, Jorge Rakela, Gary Levy, Eugene Schiff, Robert Gish, Paul Martin, Jules Dienstag, Paul Adams, Rolland Dickson, Gaya Anschuetz, Steve Bell, Lynn Condreay, Nathaniel Brown, The Lamivudine North American Transplant Group – 30 December 2003 – Seventy‐seven liver transplant candidates were enrolled in a multicenter study in which patients were treated with lamivudine (100 mg daily) without the adjunctive use of hepatitis B immune globulin. Treatment was begun while patients awaited liver transplantation and continued after transplantation.

Michael T. Milliano, Bruce A. Luxon – 30 December 2003 – The role of cytosolic fatty acid binding protein (FABP) in cellular fatty acid metabolism remains poorly defined. The intracellular movement of fatty acids is thought to be facilitated through codiffusion with FABP. Peroxisomal proliferators like clofibrate induce FABP and may stimulate fatty acid use by increasing cytoplasmic diffusion rates. Our aim was to determine if induction of FABP by clofibrate increases the cytoplasmic transport of a fluorescent fatty acid NBD‐stearate.

Germana V. Gregorio, Bernard Portmann, John Karani, Phil Harrison, Peter T. Donaldson, Diego Vergani, Giorgina Mieli‐Vergani – 30 December 2003 – To investigate whether sclerosing cholangitis with an autoimmune serology characteristic of autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) and AIH are distinct entities, we studied 55 consecutive children with clinical and/or biochemical evidence of liver disease and circulating antinuclear (ANA), anti‐smooth muscle (SMA), and/or liver‐kidney‐microsomal type 1 (LKM1) autoantibodies.

Gernot Zollner, Peter Fickert, Rainer Zenz, Andrea Fuchsbichler, Conny Stumptner, Lukas Kenner, Peter Ferenci, Rudolf E. Stauber, Guenter J. Krejs, Helmut Denk, Kurt Zatloukal, Michael Trauner – 30 December 2003 – Reduced hepatobiliary transporter expression could explain impaired hepatic uptake and excretion of bile salts and other biliary constituents resulting in cholestasis and jaundice. Because little is known about alterations of hepatobiliary transport systems in human cholestatic liver diseases, it was the aim of this study to investigate such potential changes.

Marcus Schmitt, Ralf Kubitz, Sabine Lizun, Matthias Wettstein, Dieter Häussinger – 30 December 2003 – Canalicular transport via the bile salt export pump (Bsep) represents the rate‐controlling step in taurocholate excretion, whose capacity is under osmotic control. The short‐term effects of anisoosmolarity and Ca2+‐withdrawal on the localization of Bsep and the tight junction proteins Zo‐1 and occludin were studied in perfused rat liver by immunohistochemistry, confocal microscopy, and densitometry.