Wajahat Z. Mehal, Wendy L. Gregory, Y‐M. Dennis Lo, Susan J. Cross, Kenneth A. Fleming, Margaret F. Bassendine, Oliver F. W. James, R. Duncan Campbell, Roger W. Chapman, William M. C. Rosenberg – 1 November 1994 – Primary biliary cirrhosis is a chronic cholestatic disease, thought to be immune‐mediated with genetic susceptibility encoded in the major histocompatibility complex. In northern Europeans, the best established associations are with HLA‐DR8 and the complement allele, C4B2.

Carlo De Bac, Tommaso Stroffolini, Giovanni B. Gaeta, Gloria Taliani, Giuseppe Giusti – 1 November 1994 – We designed a multicenter cross‐sectional study to evaluate the role of alcohol abuse, the hepatitis viruses and other pathogenic factors in cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. A total of 1,829 consecutive cirrhosis patients, with or without HCC, was enrolled over 6 mo in 21 centers throughout Italy. The etiological categories and diagnostic criteria were preestablished.

Shuichi Kawakami, Hirohito Tsubouchi, Shiro Nakagawa, Shuichi Hirono, Naokatu Arakaki, Osamu Nakamura, Yasushi Daikuhara, Terukatsu Arima – 1 November 1994 – We examined hepatocyte growth factor–producing organs in normal and carbon tetrachloride–treated Japanese monkeys, a species more related to human beings than rats, by measuring hepatocyte growth factor protein and hepatocyte growth factor mRNA in various tissues.

Kunio Suzuki, Norio Hayashi, Yukinori Yamada, Harumasa Yoshihara, Yasuhide Miyamoto, Yoshiki Ito, Toshihumi Ito, Kazuhiro Katayama, Yutaka Sasaki, Akihiko Ito, Yutaka Kisida, Toru Kashiwagi, Hideyuki Fusamoto, Takenobu Kamada – 1 November 1994 – The c‐met protooncogene is a growth factor receptor with tyrosine kinase activity. Recently the hepatocyte growth factor was identified as the ligand for this receptor. Because the hepatocyte growth factor is a most potent mitogen in hepatocytes, possible involvement of c‐met expression in hepatocarcin genesis is suspected.

Antonio Francavilla, Brian I. Carr, Alessandro Azzarone, Lorenzo Polimeno, Ziqiu Wang, David H. Van Thiel, Vladimir Subbotin, John G. Prelich, Thomas E. Starzl – 1 November 1994 – Subcutaneous injections of hormone triiodothyronine in rats resulted in peak blood levels at 24 hr with return to baseline by 96 hr. The injections stimulated a liver regeneration response that resembled in timing and in magnitude of DNA synthesis (peak, 24 hr) that induced by 40% hepatic resection. The principal proliferation was of hepatocytes.

Masahide Oshita, Norio Hayashi, Akinori Kasahara, Hideki Hagiwara, Eiji Mita, Masafumi Naito, Kazuhiro Katayama, Hideyuki Fusamoto, Takenobu Kamada – 1 November 1994 – Hepatitis viruses and alcohol are major causes of liver disease. This study was aimed at investigating the effect of alcohol intake on the replication of hepatitis C virus and the efficacy of interferon therapy. Fiftythree patients who were histologically proved to have chronic hepatitis C were tested.

Karl Ludwig Rost, Herbert Brösicke, Gerhard Heinemeyer, Ivar Roots – 1 November 1994 – Omeprazole induces hepatic cytochrome P‐4501A2. In a previous study this effect was shown to be significant in vivo in 6 poor metabolizers, including 1 intermediate metabolizer, but not in 12 extensive metabolizers of S‐mephenytoin after 7 days of treatment with 40 mg/day omeprazole. In this study, the specificity of the inducing potential of omeprazole was investigated in these volunteers.

Khay‐Lin Teoh, Merrill J. Rowley, Helen Zafirakis, E. Rolland Dickson, Russell H. Wiesner, M. Eric Gershwin, Ian R. Mackay – 1 November 1994 – Sera from patients with primary biliary cirrhosis inhibit the activity of the mitochondrial pyruvate dehydrogenase complex. We utilized this effect to develop a simple, miniaturized, semiautomated spectrophotometric assay as a diagnostic aid. The sera studied were from 71 patients with primary biliary cirrhosis and 62 other subjects.

Ronald A. Faris, Douglas C. Hixson – 1 November 1994 – In transgenic mice bearing the Simian Virus 40 large T antigen under the control of the human anti‐thrombin III regulatory sequences, a step‐wise progression toward hepatocellular carcinoma is observed. We have used two monoclonal antibodies (A6 and G7) developed against a surface antigen expressed in oval cells from dipin‐treated mice, to analyze the emergence of such preneoplastic populations in the livers of anti‐thrombin III Simian Virus 40 T transgenic mice.

Motoko Sasaki, Yasuni Nakanuma – 1 November 1994 – Expression of mucin core protein of mammary type (MUC‐1 core protein) was investigated in primary hepatic carcinoma (25 cases of cholangiocarcinoma, 15 cases of combined hepatocellular‐cholangiocellular carcinoma and 18 cases of hepatocellular carcinoma) with monoclonal antibody DF3 and a standard avidinbiotin complex method.