Akito Sakai, Shuichi Kaneko, Masao Honda, Eiki Matsushita, Kenichi Kobayashi – 30 December 2003 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been known to infect hosts as a quasispecies. Several reports have shown this using serum samples, but there is little information about quasispecies in the liver. In this study, we evaluated quasispecies in serum and in 3 different parts of the liver in 8 patients with varying severity of chronic hepatitis C by calculating nucleotide diversity, entropy, type of substitution and by phylogenetic analysis.

Georgios Germanidis, Corinne Haioun, Daniel Dhumeaux, Felix Reyes, Jean‐Michel Pawlotsky – 30 December 2003

Guido Torzilli, Masami Minagawa, Tadatoshi Takayama, Kazuto Inoue, Ai‐Min Hui, Keiichi Kubota, Kuni Ohtomo, Masatoshi Makuuchi – 30 December 2003 – Fine‐needle biopsy (FNB) is associated with problems, such as tumor seeding, which are probably underestimated. The aim of this study was to validate prospectively the accuracy of our diagnostic work‐up without FNB, for defining indications for surgery in a cohort of patients with focal liver lesions (FLLs).

Valerie Paradis, Delphine Dargere, Michel Vidaud, Anne‐Charlotte de Gouville, Stephane Huet, Vincent Martinez, Jean‐Michel Gauthier, Nathalie Ba, Rodolphe Sobesky, Vlad Ratziu, Pierre Bedossa – 30 December 2003 – Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) stimulatesin vitrofibroblast proliferation and extracellular matrix synthesis. The aim of this study was to assess the role of CTGF in liver fibrogenesis.

30 December 2003

K. Lenhard Rudolph, Christian Trautwein, Stefan Kubicka, Tim Rakemann, Matthias J. Bahr, Nick Sedlaczek, Detlef Schuppan, Michael P. Manns – 30 December 2003 – Little is known about the modulation of the extracellular matrix (ECM) during liver regeneration. We studied the temporospatial expression of procollagens and of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their physiological antagonists, the tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs) after two‐thirds partial hepatectomy (PH) by Northern blot analysis and in situ hybridization.

Ai‐Min Hui, Xing Cui, Masatoshi Makuuchi, Xin Li, Ya‐Zhou Shi, Tadatoshi Takayama – 30 December 2003 – This study was undertaken to identify potential abnormalities of p27Kip1 and cyclin D1 expression in extrahepatic bile duct carcinomas and to assess the prognostic significance of p27Kip1 and cyclin D1 levels for patients with this disease. Decreased p27Kip1 expression (<50% nuclei staining) and cyclin D1 overexpression (>5% nuclei staining) was observed immunohistochemically in 19 (56%) and 23 (68%) of the 34 tumors examined, respectively.

Hitoshi Yoshiji, Shigeki Kuriyama, Daniel J. Hicklin, James Huber, Junichi Yoshii, Yoji Miyamoto, Mitsuhiro Kawata, Yasuhide Ikenaka, Toshiya Nakatani, Hirohisa Tsujinoue, Hiroshi Fukui – 30 December 2003 – Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which is one of the most potent angiogenic factors, has been shown to play a pivotal role in tumor angiogenesis, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The effects of VEGF are mediated mainly through two distinct receptors, flt‐1 and KDR/Flk‐1. It has been suggested that KDR/Flk‐1 plays an important role in tumor development.

Janus P. Ong, David S. Barnes, Zobair M. Younossi, Terry Gramlich, Belinda Yen‐Lieberman, Marlene Goormastic, Cedric Sheffield, Kathy Hoercher, Randall Starling, James Young, Nicholas Smedira, Patrick McCarthy – 30 December 2003 – The outcome ofde novohepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in heart transplant recipients of HCV‐antibody positive organs is not known. The aim of the study was to determine the short‐term outcome of de novoHCV infection in recipients of HCV‐positive donor organs.

Anders Lindblad, Hans Glaumann, Birgitta Strandvik – 30 December 2003 – The median age of the population with cystic fibrosis (CF) has increased worldwide, which has led to the suggestion that the prevalence of liver disease would increase. The aim of this study was to evaluate the natural history of CF‐associated liver disease over a 15‐year period in a well‐controlled population of patients with CF. During the years 1976 through 1993, 124 patients were followed up by yearly liver function tests (LFTs).