Shiro Miwa, Yasuhiko Hashikura, Atsuyoshi Mita, Tatsuya Kubota, Hisanao Chisuwa, Yuichi Nakazawa, Toshihiko Ikegami, Masaru Terada, Shinichi Miyagawa, Seiji Kawasaki – 30 December 2003 – The prognosis for patients with fulminant (FHF) or subfulminant hepatic failure (SFHF) has improved since the introduction of liver transplantation. However, the death rate of patients awaiting liver transplantation is high, possibly because of the difficulty in obtaining grafts in a timely manner, given the relative shortage of cadaveric donors.

Laurent Castéra, Isabelle Nègre, Kamran Samii, Catherine Buffet – 30 December 2003

Xiangdong Wang, Gary C. Kanel, Laurie D. DeLeve – 30 December 2003 – Depletion of sinusoidal endothelial cell glutathione (GSH) has been proposed as a common mechanism leading to hepatic veno‐occlusive disease (HVOD). This study examines whether intraportal infusion of GSH can prevent HVOD in the monocrotaline rat model. HVOD was induced in rats with monocrotaline 160 mg/kg i.g. on day 0. GSH was infused intraportally by mini‐osmotic pump. Monocrotaline decreased GSH in sinusoidal endothelial cells, but not in liver homogenate.

Bruno Christ, Emine Yazici, Annegret Nath – 30 December 2003 – The participation of phosphatidylinositol 3–kinase (PI3‐kinase), protein kinase C, and mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAP‐kinase) in the inhibition by interleukin 6 (IL‐6) and insulin of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PCK) gene expression was investigated in cultured rat hepatocytes. IL‐6 or insulin inhibited the glucagon‐stimulated increase in PCK messenger RNA (mRNA) by about 70%.

Hiroyuki Marusawa, Shinji Uemoto, Makoto Hijikata, Yoshihide Ueda, Koichi Tanaka, Kunitada Shimotohno, Tsutomu Chiba – 30 December 2003 – Several recent reports have shown that hepatitis B virus (HBV) could be frequently transmitted to the recipients from donors who have antibodies to hepatitis B core antigen (anti‐HBc) through liver transplantation. We provide here the molecular evidence of latent HBV infection accompanied with ongoing viral replication in the liver tissue of anti‐HBc–positive healthy individuals.

Richard D. Press – 30 December 2003

Toshiya Ochiai, Yoji Urata, Takeshi Yamano, Hisakazu Yamagishi, Tsukasa Ashihara – 30 December 2003 – Clonal analysis has shown that hepatocellular carcinoma arises from a single cell. However, the clonality of precancerous lesions and adjacent nonneoplastic tissues is not clear. We analyzed a human androgen receptor locus to elucidate the clonal state of liver tissues including post‐hepatitic lesions associated with hepatocarcinogenesis.

Coen C. Paulusma, M. J. Kothe, Conny T. Bakker, Piter J. Bosma, Irene van Bokhoven, Jan van Marle, Ulrich Bolder, Guido N. Tytgat, Ronald P. Elferink – 30 December 2003 – We have studied regulation of the multidrug resistance protein 2 (mrp2) during bile duct ligation (BDL) in the rat. In hepatocytes isolated after 16, 48, and 72 hours of BDL, mrp2‐mediated dinitrophenyl‐glutathione (DNP‐GS) transport was decreased to 65%, 33%, and 33% of control values, respectively.

Henry L. Y. Chan, Nancy W. Y. Leung, Munira Hussain, May L. Wong, Anna S. F. Lok – 30 December 2003 – Hepatitis B e antigen–negative chronic hepatitis B (e−CHB) has been reported in Asia but its prevalence and clinical significance have not been determined. The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence of e−CHB in Hong Kong and the frequency of precore and core promoter mutations in these patients. A cross‐sectional study was performed in 350 consecutive Chinese patients (230 men and 120 women; mean age ±SD, 42 ± 13 years) with chronic hepatitis B virus infection.

David Gretch – 30 December 2003