Antonio Ponzetto, Luigi Fiume, Barbara Forzani, Shi Yun Song, Corrado Busi, Alessandro Mattioli, Cosima Spinelli, Maria Marinelli, Antonina Smedile, Elisabetta Chiaberge, Ferruccio Bonino, Gian Battista Gervasi, Mariella Rapicetta, Giorgio Verme – 1 July 1991 – The woodchuck was selected to study the efficacy of liver‐targeted antiviral drugs on hepadnavirus replication.

Nankei Aoyama, Toshihide Ohya, Kimberly Chandler, Susan Gresky, R. Thomas Holzbach – 1 July 1991 – Nonbile salt cholephiles and bile salts are two classes of organic anions that are efficiently taken up and excreted by the liver. Recent evidence suggests that a microtubular system–dependent, colchicine‐sensitive transcellular pathway may transport both classes of these ligands. The relationship of this pathway to flux rates, however, remains unclear. Some structural evidence suggests an important role for a Golgi‐associated vesicular system.

Elihu M. Schimmel – 1 July 1991

Hitoshi Nakagama, Toshiaki Gunji, Shin Ohnishi, Takashi Kaneko, Takashi Ishikawa, Reiko Makino, Kenshi Hayashi, Junji Shiga, Fumimaro Takaku, Michio Imawari – 1 July 1991 – The expression of androgen receptor messenger RNA in hepatocellular carcinomas and hepatoma cell lines was studied using Northern‐blot analysis and the complementary DNA—polymerase chain reaction method.

Hyosuk Lee, Young Hwa Chung, Chung Yong Kim – 1 July 1991 – Serum α‐fetoprotein level is often elevated in patients with chronic liver disease and patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. One of the most difficult problems frequently encountered in practice is differentiating hepatocellular carcinoma from chronic liver disease.

Micheline Dumont, Scorinnem D'Hont, Anne‐Marie Durand‐Schneider, Véronique Legrand‐Defretin, Gérard Feldmann, Serge Erlinger – 1 July 1991 – It has been proposed that a microtubule‐dependent transport of vesicles derived from the Golgi apparatus may play a role in biliary secretion of bile salts and other cholephilic anions.

Karen Cristiano, Adrian M. Di Bisceglie, Jay H. Hoofnagle, Stephen M. Feinstone – 1 July 1991 – The recently introduced antibody test for hepatitis C virus infection has already proved to be valuable in many situations such as screening blood donors and diagnosing chronically infected patients, but this antibody assay has certain limitations. Hepatitis C virus itself is usually present in clinical specimens at very low titers; therefore a useful assay for the virus must have very high sensitivity.

Xiuming Li, Lennox J. Jeffers, K. Rajender Reddy, Maria de Medina, Marcelo Silva, Steven Villanueva, Nancy G. Klimas, Violet Esquenazi, Eugene R. Schiff – 1 July 1991 – Immunological factors are important in the pathogenesis of a spectrum of hepatobiliary diseases. To characterize the nature of specific immunological responses in liver disease, we determined lymphocyte changes in liver tissue and in blood using flow cytometry.

Tse‐Ling Fong, Adrian M. Di Bisceglie, Jeanne G. Waggoner, Steven M. Banks, Jay H. Hoofnagle – 1 July 1991 – We assessed the prevalence and clinical significance of antibodies to hepatitis C virus among a cohort of 148 patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection. Sixteen patients (11%) had anti‐hepatitis C virus detectable by enzyme‐linked immunoassay. The results from eight of these patients were positive by recombinant immunoblot assay.

Wenliang Wang, W. Thomas London, Laura Lega, Mark A. Feitelson – 1 July 1991 – Formalin‐fixed, paraffin‐embedded specimens from 110 cases of chronic hepatitis and 108 cases of cirrhosis were stained for HBxAg by the avidin‐biotin complex technique using specific antisera made against full‐length HBxAg polypeptide or derived synthetic peptides. These tissues were also stained for the HBsAg and HBcAg by the peroxidase—anti‐peroxidase method. Among patients with chronic hepatitis, 86% were HBsAg positive in liver cells, 60% were surface antigen positive and 32% were core antigen positive.