Fumio Imazeki, Osamu Yokosuka, Kenichi Fukai, Hiromitsu Saisho – 30 December 2003 – The prognosis of patients with chronic hepatitis C after interferon (IFN) therapy is still poorly defined. The present study evaluated the effect of IFN therapy on survival in a cohort of such patients. The study included 459 patients with biopsy‐proven C‐viral chronic liver disease who were followed for 8.2 ± 2.9 years (range, 7‐183 months). Survival status was examined by medical records or direct questionnaires.

Limin Chen, Andrew Goryachev, Jin Sun, Peter Kim, Hui Zhang, M. James Phillips, Pascale Macgregor, Sylvie Lebel, Aled M. Edwards, Qiongfang Cao, Katryn N. Furuya – 30 December 2003 – Biliary atresia (BA) is characterized by a progressive, sclerosing, inflammatory process that leads to cirrhosis in infancy. Although it is the most common indication for liver transplantation in early childhood, little is known about its etiopathogenesis. To elucidate factors involved in this process, we performed comprehensive genome‐wide gene expression analysis using complementary DNA (cDNA) microarrays.

Loredana Frasca, Cristiano Scottà, Paola Del Porto, Alfredo Nicosia, Caterina Pasquazzi, Ilaria Versace, Anna Maria Masci, Luigi Racioppi, Enza Piccolella – 30 December 2003 – An ideal strategy that leads to a vaccine aimed at controlling viral escape may be that of preventing the replication of escape mutants by eliciting a T‐ and B‐cell repertoire directed against many viral variants.

Oliviero Riggio, Cesare Efrati, Andrea Masini, Stefania Angeloni, Manuela Merli – 30 December 2003

Carla Colombo, Pier Maria Battezzati, Andrea Crosignani – 30 December 2003

Stefania Recalcati, Lorenza Tacchini, Alessandra Alberghini, Dario Conte, Gaetano Cairo – 30 December 2003 – Hydroxyacid oxidase 1 (Hao1) is a liver‐specific peroxisomal enzyme that oxidizes glycolate to glyoxylate with concomitant production of H2O2. In Hao1 messenger RNA (mRNA), an iron‐responsive element (IRE) homologous to the sequence recognized by iron regulatory proteins (IRP), key regulators of iron homeostasis, is present, but the involvement of iron in Hao1 regulation remains unclear.

Hee Jeong Kong, Min Jung Park, SunHwa Hong, Hyun Jung Yu, Young Chul Lee, Young Hyun Choi, JaeHun Cheong – 30 December 2003 – Hepatitis B virus X protein (HBx) is a transcriptional coactivator that plays a significant role in the regulation of genes involved in inflammation and cell survival. A recently identified cellular coactivator, activating signal cointegrator 2 (ASC‐2), is enriched in liver cancer cells and associates with many transcription factors that are active in hepatocytes.

Kazuaki Takabe, Lili Wang, Angela M. O. Leal, Leigh A. MacConell, Ezra Wiater, Tomoaki Tomiya, Akihiko Ohno, Inder M. Verma, Wylie Vale – 30 December 2003 – Under normal physiologic conditions, liver size is under strict regulatory control. Activin, a member of the transforming growth factor β (TGF‐β) superfamily, is expressed in the intact adult liver and is an inhibitor of hepatocyte growth. However, the exact role played by endogenous activin in maintaining the size of a normal adult liver has yet to be completely examined in vivo.

Chun‐Tao Wai, Anna S. F. Lok – 30 December 2003

Marc G. Ghany, David E. Kleiner – 30 December 2003