Giorgio Saracco, Alda Olivero, Alessia Ciancio, Silvia Carenzi, Antonina Smedile, Giuseppe Cariti, Massimo Andreoni, Pier Giulio Orsi, Alberto Biglino, Marco Tabone, Luigi Roffi, Guido Croce, Aldo Manca, Gianfranco Tappero, Giovannino Ciccone, Mario Rizzetto – 30 December 2003 – To determine whether a higher dosage of interferon (IFN) and/or a prolonged time of administration may improve the efficacy of combination therapy, we conducted a 4‐arm randomized trial on patients with chronic hepatitis C relapsing after 1 or more previous treatment courses with IFN monotherapy.

Pierre Pradat, Alfredo Alberti, Thierry Poynard, Juan‐Ignacio Esteban, Ola Weiland, Patrick Marcellin, Salvatore Badalamenti, Christian Trépo – 30 December 2003 – The aim of this retrospective study was to determine the predictive value of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels for histologic findings in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Data on 864 HCV RNA–positive patients were collected. ALT values were obtained at the time of biopsy (before treatment), and normal ALT values were defined as normal values obtained at serial evaluations during a 6‐month period.

Ludger Leifeld, Silvia Cheng, Jan Ramakers, Franz‐Ludwig Dumoulin, Christian Trautwein, Tilman Sauerbruch, Ulrich Spengler – 30 December 2003 – In murine models, overexpression of interleukin (IL)‐12 and interferon (IFN)‐γ can induce severe liver damage, whereas IL‐10 has anti‐inflammatory and hepatoprotective properties.

Hélène Strick‐Marchand, Mary C. Weiss – 30 December 2003 – This work shows that hepatic cell lines reproducibly can be derived from E14 embryos of many mouse inbred strains. These bipotential mouse embryonic liver (BMEL) cell lines present a mixed morphology, containing both epithelial and palmate‐like cells, and an uncoupled phenotype, expressing hepatocyte transcription factors (HNF1α, HNF4α, GATA4) but not functions (apolipoproteins, albumin). BMEL cells are bipotential: under inducing conditions they express hepatocyte and bile duct functions.

Regina Corbalán, Nicolas Chatauret, Sönke Behrends, Roger F. Butterworth, Vicente Felipo – 30 December 2003 – Modulation of soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) by nitric oxide (NO) is altered in brain from experimental animals with hyperammonemia with or without liver failure. The aim of this work was to assess the content and modulation of sGC in brain in chronic liver failure in humans. Expression of the α‐1, α‐2, and β‐1 subunits of sGC was measured by immunoblotting in autopsied frontal cortex and cerebellum from cirrhotic patients and controls.

Stefan Wirth, Thomas Lang, Stephan Gehring, Patrick Gerner – 30 December 2003 – Treatment with alfa‐interferon alone yielded poor results in children with chronic hepatitis C and was not generally recommended. Owing to limited experience with combination therapy in children, the aim of the study was to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of alfa‐interferon 2b in combination with ribavirin in these patients with different routes of viral transmission.

Patrick S. Kamath – 30 December 2003

Manal M. Hassan, Lu‐Yu Hwang, Chiq J. Hatten, Mark Swaim, Donghui Li, James L. Abbruzzese, Palmer Beasley, Yehuda Z. Patt – 30 December 2003 – Risk factors associated with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are well documented, but the synergisms between these risk factors are not well examined. We conducted a hospital‐based, case‐control study among 115 HCC patients and 230 non–liver cancer controls. Cases and controls were pathologically diagnosed at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and were matched by 5‐year age groups, sex, and year of diagnosis.

John G. McHutchison, Keyur Patel – 30 December 2003 – Currently available therapies for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C are effective in half of patients, but are expensive, often poorly tolerated, and unsuitable for certain patient populations. The ideal therapy would be highly effective, orally bioavailable, have minimal side effects, be cost effective, and suitable for the majority of patients with hepatitis C.

Brian R. Edlin – 30 December 2003 – Injection drug users constitute the largest group of persons infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the United States, and most new infections occur in drug users. Controlling hepatitis C in the U.S. population, therefore, will require developing, testing, and implementing effective prevention and treatment strategies for persons who inject drugs. Fortunately, a substantial body of research and clinical experience exists on the prevention and management of chronic viral diseases among injection drug users.