G Marinos, N V Naoumov, R Williams – 1 November 1996 – Interferon alfa (IFN‐α) treatment is effective in only a proportion of patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. The mechanisms for therapeutic failure remain unknown but high levels of HBV replication are known to inhibit the immunopotentiating effects of IFN‐α.

J C Cutrin, D Cantino, F Biasi, E Chiarpotto, M Salizzoni, E Andorno, G Massano, G Lanfranco, M Rizzetto, A Boveris, G Poli – 1 November 1996 – In 19 patients who have undergone orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT), the trend and degree of cholestasis was statistically monitored in terms of plasma levels of L‐gamma‐glutamyl transferase (GGT) and total bilirubin. In addition, the ultrastructure of the bile canaliculus was examined during the entire OLT procedure, i.e., during explantation, cold ischemia, and after 60 to 90 minutes of organ reperfusion.

A Hayasaka, N Suzuki, N Fujimoto, S Iwama, E Fukuyama, Y Kanda, H Saisho – 1 November 1996 – Background: Matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP‐9), a 92‐kd gelatinase/type IV collagenase, has been implicated as playing an important role in cancer invasion and metastasis. A previous study showed that serum type IV collagenase activity correlated with metastasis by hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The aims of this study were to determine the plasma levels of immunoreactive MMP‐9 in patients with HCC and to compare the levels with the clinical features including vascular invasion.

J Sastre, F V Pallardó, R Plá, A Pellín, G Juan, J E O'Connor, J M Estrela, J Miquel, J Viña – 1 November 1996 – Mitochondrial damage may be a major cause of cellular aging. So far, this hypothesis had only been tested using isolated mitochondria. The aim of this study was to investigate the involvement of mitochondria in aging using whole liver cells and not isolated mitochondria only.

I Wéry, M Kaouass, P Deloyer, J Buts, H Barbason, G Dandrifosse – 1 November 1996 – In the present study, we investigated the effects of spermine on postnatal liver maturation in suckling rats. The animals were given spermine either per os (8 μmol) or by intraperitoneal injection (1 μmol), once daily for three or five days. The percentage of liver cells in different cell cycle phases and of diploid cells in the parenchyma was estimated.

A A Demetriou – 1 November 1996

Gian Luca Grazi, Alighieri Mazziotti, Claudia Sama, Elio Jovine, Francesco Stefanini, Rolando Paladini, Roberto Rossi, Antonino Cavallari – 1 November 1996 – The presence of a positive hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) has been considered a highly questionable indication for orthotopic liver transplantation. We report our experience in the treatment of HBsAg‐positive HBV‐DNA—negative cirrhotics with liver transplantation, whether or not followed by passive prophylaxis with specific immunoglobulins.

J Napoli, G A Bishop, P H McGuinness, D M Painter, G W McCaughan – 1 October 1996 – An imbalance between T helper cell (Th)1 and Th2‐like cytokines has been described in several chronic infectious diseases. We therefore analyzed the intrahepatic messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of Th1‐like (interleukin [IL]‐2, interferon [IFN]‐gamma) and Th2‐like (IL‐4, IL‐10) cytokines in chronic hepatitis C patients (n = 17) and controls (n = 6) and correlated the results with liver histology and intrahepatic viral load.

I P Hällström, D Liao, Y Assefaw‐Redda, L C Ohlson, L Sahlin, P Eneroth, L Eriksson, J Gustafsson, A Blanck – 1 October 1996 – Synthetic estrogens act as tumor promoters in rat liver. Because estrogen treatment markedly increases the secretion of pituitary prolactin, also shown to be a tumor promoter in rat liver, the possibility of a pituitary influence in estrogen promotion was investigated in Wistar rats.

T Kimura, K Suzuki, S Inada, A Hayashi, M Isobe, Y Matsuzaki, N Tanaka, T Osuga, M Fujiwara – 1 October 1996 – Interaction between intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM‐1) and lymphocyte function‐associated antigen 1 (LFA‐1) might be involved in the pathogenesis of liver diseases. We investigated whether monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against these two adhesion molecules could inhibit the formation of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC)‐like lesions in an animal model using graft‐versus‐host reaction (GVHR) with major histocompatibility complex class II disparity.