Orlando Musso, Marko Rehn, Janna Saarela, Nathalie Théret, Jocelyne Liétard, Elina Hintikka, Dominique Lotrian, Jean‐Pierre Campion, Taina Pihlajaniemi, Bruno Clément – 30 December 2003 – Type XVIII collagen is a recently discovered nonfibrillar collagen associated with basement membranes in mice and expressed at high levels in human liver.

30 December 2003

Sasan Roayaie, Thomas D. Schiano, Swan N. Thung, Sukru H. Emre, Thomas M. Fishbein, Charles M. Miller, Myron E. Schwartz – 30 December 2003 – Retransplantation for recurrent hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been evaluated in small series. In this study, patients undergoing transplantation for HCV‐related cirrhosis with subsequent retransplantation more than 90 days for recurrent HCV (proven by pathologic examination of the explant and exclusion of other factors) were prospectively followed.

Mauricio Moreno, Hector Molina, Ludwig Amigo, Silvana Zanlungo, Marco Arrese, Attilio Rigotti, Juan Francisco Miquel – 30 December 2003 – Caveolins are cholesterol‐binding proteins involved in the regulation of several intracellular processes, including cholesterol transport. Because hepatocytes express caveolin‐1 and caveolin‐2, these proteins might modulate hepatic lipid metabolism and biliary lipid secretion. Our aim was to investigate the potential physiologic role of caveolins in hepatic cholesterol and bile salt (BS) metabolism and transport using adenoviral gene transfer.

Teresa A. Zimmers, Robert H. Pierce, Iain H. McKillop, Leonidas G. Koniaris – 30 December 2003

Kazushi Sugimoto, Fusao Ikeda, Jason Stadanlick, Frederick A. Nunes, Harvey J. Alter, Kyong‐Mi Chang – 30 December 2003 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has a high propensity for persistence. To better define the immunologic determinants of HCV clearance and persistence, we examined the circulating HCV‐specific T‐cell frequency, repertoire, and cytokine phenotype ex vivo in 24 HCV seropositive subjects (12 chronic, 12 recovered), using 361 overlapping peptides in 36 antigenic pools that span the entire HCV core, NS3‐NS5.

Renxue Wang, Ping Lam, Lin Liu, Dana Forrest, Ibrahim M. Yousef, Diane Mignault, M. James Phillips, Victor Ling – 30 December 2003 – Intrahepatic cholestasis is often associated with impairment of biliary bile acid secretion, a process mediated by the sister of P‐glycoprotein (Spgp or Abcb11) also known as the bile salt export pump (Bsep). In humans, mutations in the Spgp gene are associated with a fatal childhood disease, type 2 progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis (PFIC2). However in mice, the “knockout” of Spgp only results in mild cholestasis.

Eugene R. Schiff, Ching‐Lung Lai, Stefanos Hadziyannis, Peter Neuhaus, Norah Terrault, Massimo Colombo, Hans L. Tillmann, Didier Samuel, Stefan Zeuzem, Leslie Lilly, Maria Rendina, Jean‐Pierre Villeneuve, Nicole Lama, Craig James, Michael S. Wulfsohn, Hamid Namini, Christopher Westland, Shelly Xiong, Gavin S. Choy, Sally Van Doren, John Fry, Carol L.

Peter J. Scheuer – 30 December 2003

Stefan A. Topp, Gundumi A. Upadhya, Steven M. Strasberg – 30 December 2003 – Leukocyte adhesion on reperfusion is a critical component of cold preservation injury, and involves increased intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM‐1) expression on sinusoidal endothelial cells (SEC). This study determined whether ICAM‐1 expression occurs during cold preservation and whether actin disassembly is necessary for ICAM‐1 expression and leukocyte adhesion. ICAM‐1 expression was measured in isolated rat SEC during 8 hours of cold preservation by immunofluorescence techniques.