M Pardo, I Castillo, H Oliva, A Fernandez‐Flores, R Barcena, M A de Peuter, V Carreno – 30 December 2003 – The optimal and safer interleukin‐2 (IL‐2) dose for treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has been studied in 33 HCV‐RNA positive patients with chronic hepatitis C. Patients were randomly allocated to receive 5 days per week during 12 weeks IL‐2 doses of: 0.9 MIU (n = 10), 1.8 MIU (n = 10), or 3.6 MIU (n = 13). After 12 weeks, responder patients stopped treatment, whereas nonresponders received 12 additional weeks of IL‐2 at the next higher dose: 1.8, 3.6, or 5.4 MIU.

J G McHutchison, O V Nainan, M J Alter, A Sedghi‐Vaziri, J Detmer, M Collins, J Kolberg – 30 December 2003 – Hepatitis G virus (HGV), a positive sense RNA virus, is distantly related to hepatitis C virus (HCV): its genetic organization and identity are consistent with the Flaviviridae family. Coinfection with HGV occurs in 10% to 20% of HCV‐infected subjects. These similarities raise two theoretical questions.

V di Martino, F Saurini, D Samuel, M Gigou, E Dussaix, M Reynes, H Bismuth, C Feray – 30 December 2003 – Recurrence of hepatitis C after liver transplantation is common and can lead to severe liver diseases. Although immunosuppression and high levels of viremia suggest a direct pathogenicity of hepatitis C virus (HCV), the relations between viral replication and long‐term histological course are still unknown. Thirty‐three patients with a mean histological follow‐up of 3.5 years (3 months ‐ 8.6 years) were analyzed. Nineteen patients were infected by genotype 1b.

Z Cheng, J Hu, J King, G Jay, T C Campbell – 30 December 2003 – In a comprehensive human ecological study, primary liver cancer has been shown to be highly significantly associated with 1) the prevalence of persistent infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) and 2) plasma cholesterol concentrations that are, in turn, associated with the consumption of animal based foods. In rat studies, aflatoxin‐induced hepatocellular carcinoma is substantially prevented by decreasing the intake of animal based protein (casein), a hypercholesterolemic nutrient.

R Jalan, N D Finlayson, P C Hayes – 30 December 2003

J H Hoofnagle, J Everhart – 30 December 2003

30 December 2003

E E Cable, H C Isom – 30 December 2003 – We previously showed that primary rat hepatocytes plated on a rat‐tail collagen coated dish and fed a chemically‐defined medium supplemented with 2% dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) can be maintained in a well‐differentiated, non‐replicating state for periods of several months. In this study, we show that the addition of copper, iron, and zinc to the DMSO‐containing chemically defined medium induced DNA synthesis and cell replication during the first two months in culture without loss of hepatic differentiation.

V Neaud, S Faouzi, J Guirouilh, B Le Bail, C Balabaud, P Bioulac‐Sage, J Rosenbaum – 30 December 2003 – The stroma of hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) is infiltrated with myofibroblasts (MFs). Preliminary in vivo data have suggested that liver MF express hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), a cytokine that has been implicated in several tumor models. Our aim was to investigate the role of MF and HGF in HCC. Cultured liver MF expressed HGF messenger RNA (mRNA) and secreted HGF in their medium, as shown by Western blot, immunoprecipitation, and enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

F Nadori, B Lardeux, M Rahmani, A Bringuier, A Durand‐Schneider, D Bernuau – 30 December 2003 – Activation of the transcriptional regulator AP‐1, a dimeric complex formed of various combinations of Fos and Jun proteins, is a key step in the cellular response to mitogens. Because different dimers are believed to display different regulatory functions, we hypothesized that transformed cells that lack normal growth constraints might display AP‐1 dimers that are different from those of normal cells.