Lymphoblastoid interferon alfa‐n1 improves the long‐term response to a 6‐month course of treatment in chronic hepatitis C compared with recombinant interferon alfa‐2b: Results of an international randomized controlled trial

Geoffrey C. Farrell, Bruce R. Bacon, Robert D. Goldin, Clinical Advisory Group for the Hepatitis C Comparative Study – 30 December 2003 – The aim of this study was to compare the short‐term and long‐term efficacy and safety of lymphoblastoid interferon with a recombinant interferon alfa (IFN‐α) in a 24‐week treatment course for chronic hepatitis C. One thousand seventy‐one patients with chronic hepatitis C were randomized to receive lymphoblastoid IFN‐αn1 or recombinant IFN‐α2b at the same dosing regimen, 3 million units administered subcutaneously three times a week for 24 weeks.

Interleukin 1β and interleukin 6, but not tumor necrosis factor α, inhibit insulin‐stimulated glycogen synthesis in rat hepatocytes

Toshiki Kanemaki, Hiroaki Kitade, Masaki Kaibori, Kazushige Sakitani, Yoshifumi Hiramatsu, Yasuo Kamiyama, Seiji Ito, Tadayoshi Okumura – 30 December 2003 – Recent evidence indicates that inflammatory cytokines are involved in changes of blood glucose concentrations and hepatic glucose metabolism in infectious diseases, including sepsis. However, little is known regarding how cytokines interact with glucoregulatory hormones such as insulin. The objective of the present study is to investigate if and how cytokines influence insulin‐stimulated glycogen metabolism in the liver.

The human gallbladder increases cholesterol solubility in bile by differential lipid absorption: A study using a new in vitro model of isolated intra‐arterially perfused gallbladder

Stefano Ginanni Corradini, Cristina Ripani, Paola Della Guardia, Luca Giovannelli, Walter Elisei, Alfredo Cantafora, Massimo Codacci Pisanelli, Giovanni Domenico Tebala, Gennaro Nuzzo, Alessandro Corsi, Adolfo Francesco Attili, Livio Capocaccia, Vincenzo Ziparo – 30 December 2003 – In this study, we first developed and validated a new in vitro isolated, intra‐arterially perfused, gallbladder model and then applied the method to investigate the absorption of biliary lipids by the gallbladder wall and the effect of this process on the composition of human bile.

Tolerance and latent cellular rejection in long‐term liver transplant recipients

Terence Wong, Kayhan T. Nouri‐Aria, John Devlin, Bernard Portmann, Roger Williams – 30 December 2003 – Tolerance develops in a proportion of long‐term liver transplant recipients but currently cannot be identified before an attempt at withdrawal from immunosuppression therapy. In the present study, we have examined the immunophenotypic characteristics of the cellular infiltrate in portal tracts and lobules as observed in liver biopsy specimens in relation to the outcome of subsequent withdrawal from immunosuppression therapy.

Circulating cellular fibronectin may be a natural ligand for the hepatic asialoglycoprotein receptor: Possible pathway for fibronectin deposition and turnover in the rat liver

Robert F. Rotundo, Robert A. Rebres, Paula J. Mckeown‐Longo, Frank A. Blumenstock, Thomas M. Saba – 30 December 2003 – It has been postulated that the in vivo removal of many plasma glycoproteins after desialylation is mediated by their interaction with a specific endocytic receptor on hepatocytes called the asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGP‐R), which is known to have a high affinity for specific carbohydrate residues, such as galactose. However, this mechanism has never been proven in vivo, nor has a naturally occurring ligand for the ASGP‐R been identified.

Transport of fluorescent bile acids by the isolated perfused rat liver: Kinetics, sequestration, and mobilization

Fernando Holzinger, Claudio D. Schteingart, Huong‐Thu Ton‐Nu, Carolina Cerrè, Joseph H. Steinbach, Hong‐Zen Yeh, Alan F. Hofmann – 30 December 2003 – Hepatocyte transport of six fluorescent bile acids containing nitrobenzoxadiazolyl (NBD) or a fluorescein derivative on the side chain was compared with that of natural bile acids using the single‐pass perfused rat liver.

Hepatocyte‐specific expression of the human MDR3P‐glycoprotein gene restores the biliary phosphatidylcholine excretion absent in Mdr2 (−/−) mice

Alexander J. Smith, J. Marleen de Vree, Roelof Ottenhoff, Ronald P. Elferink, Alfred H. Schinkel, Piet Borst – 30 December 2003 – Mice homozygous for a disruption in the Mdr2 gene (Mdr2 (−/−) mice) lack the Mdr2 P‐glycoprotein (P‐gp) in the canalicular membrane of the hepatocyte and are unable to excrete phosphatidylcholine into the bile. These mice develop a nonsuppurative cholestatic liver disease, presumably caused by the high concentrations of free cytotoxic bile acids in bile.

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