Vincenzo Lamonaca, Gabriele Missale, Simona Urbani, Massimo Pilli, Carolina Boni, Cristina Mori, Alessandro Sette, Marco Massari, Scott Southwood, Roberto Bertoni, Antonietta Valli, Franco Fiaccadori, Carlo Ferrari – 30 December 2003 – The HLA class II–restricted T‐cell response to hepatitis C virus (HCV) antigens is believed to influence the final outcome of hepatitis C, because it is vigorous in patients who recover from acute hepatitis C, but it is weak in those who develop a chronic infection.

Virginie Bender, Pilar Bravo, Catherine Decaens, Doris Cassio – 30 December 2003 – WIF‐B cells were generated previously to obtain a goodin vitromodel expressing the structural and functional polarity of hepatocytes. Here we tested the stability and the strength of the WIF‐B polarized phenotype. WIF‐B cells stayed polarized and formed functional bile canaliculi even after 3 months in culture or after injection in nude mice and culture of the resulting tumors. WIF‐B was subcloned and 10,000 colonies were examined; all (except for 3) were composed of bile canaliculi forming cells.

Fred M. Konikoff, Dganit Danino, Daphna Weihs, Moshe Rubin, Yeshayahu Talmon – 30 December 2003 – Obtaining reliable information on the physical state and ultrastructure of bile is difficult because of its mixed aqueous‐lipid composition and thermodynamic metastability. We have used time‐lapse cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo‐TEM) combined with video‐enhanced light microscopy (VELM) to study microstructural evolution in nucleating bile.

Lucio Amitrano, Vincenzo Brancaccio, Maria Anna Guardascione, Maurizio Margaglione, Luigi Iannaccone, Giovanna D'Andrea, Riccardo Marmo, Paul R. Ames, Antonio Balzano – 30 December 2003 – The prevalence and pathogenesis of portal vein thrombosis (PVT) in patients with cirrhosis without hepatocellular carcinoma are not clearly defined. The role of thrombophilic genetic factors is well established in other venous thrombotic diseases, as well as in noncirrhotic portal thrombosis.

Yuji Iimuro, Blair U. Bradford, Shunhei Yamashina, Ivan Rusyn, Mikio Nakagami, Nobuyuki Enomoto, Hiroshi Kono, William Frey, Donald Forman, David Brenner, Ronald G. Thurman – 30 December 2003 – L ‐2‐oxothiazolidine‐4‐carboxylic acid (OTC) is a cysteine prodrug that maintains glutathione in tissues. Here, its effect on alcohol‐induced liver injury in an enteral alcohol feeding model was investigated. Male Wistar rats were given control high‐fat or ethanol containing diets enterally for 4 weeks. Treated rats received 500 mg/kg/d of dietary OTC.

Anna Linda Zignego, Francesca Giannelli, Maria Eugenia Marrocchi, Antonio Mazzocca, Clodoveo Ferri, Carlo Giannini, Monica Monti, Patrizio Caini, Giorgio La Villa, Giacomo Laffi, Paolo Gentilini – 30 December 2003 – Pathogenic mechanisms of B‐cell lymphoproliferative disorders in chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection are unclear.

Rajaa Chatila, Lisa Ferayorni, Tarun Gupta, Roberto J. Groszmann – 30 December 2003 – Peripheral vasodilation initiates the hyperdynamic circulation in cirrhosis. Somatostatin and its analogues, such as octreotide, have a vasoconstrictive effect in cirrhotic patients and experimental animals with portal hypertension. The exact mechanism of octreotide‐induced vasoconstriction remains unknown.

Nirmitha I. Herath, Michael C. Kew, Vicki L. Whitehall, Michael D. Walsh, Jeremy R. Jass, Kum Kum Khanna, Joanne Young, Lawrie W. Powell, Barbara A. Leggett, Graeme A. Macdonald – 30 December 2003 – Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) at 1p36 occurs in a number of solid tumors including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Recently, a novel gene, p73, has been identified at 1p36.33. p73 is structurally and functionally related to p53 located at 17p13.1, which is a target for inactivation in HCCs.

Richard B. Freeman – 30 December 2003

Andreas G. Tzakis – 30 December 2003