Yaron Rotman, Thomas A. Brown, Jay H. Hoofnagle – 27 April 2009 – The initial evaluation of a patient with hepatitis B virus infection should attempt to assess the disease activity and stage in the context of the known natural history of this infection and to properly assess the needs for treatment and surveillance. In addition to a medical history and focused physical examination, the initial evaluation usually requires serological, biochemical, and virological tests to confirm the diagnosis as well as an imaging study to establish a baseline for future monitoring.

Michael F. Sorrell, Edward A. Belongia, Jose Costa, Ilana F. Gareen, Jean L. Grem, John M. Inadomi, Earl R. Kern, James A. McHugh, Gloria M. Petersen, Michael F. Rein, Doris B. Strader, Hartwell T. Trotter – 27 April 2009

Maura Dandri, Jörg Petersen, John M. Murray – 27 April 2009

Salvatore Petta, Calogero Cammà, Antonio Craxfi – 27 April 2009

Marc G. Ghany, Edward C. Doo – 27 April 2009 – The management of chronic hepatitis B currently rests with long‐term therapy using oral nucleoside analogs. The major limitation of long‐term therapy is antiviral resistance. Antiviral resistance is due to the high rate of mutations that can occur during hepatitis B virus (HBV) replication and the selection of these mutants due to a replication advantage in the presence of the antiviral agent. Indeed, high rates of antiviral resistance have been found with long‐term use of lamivudine, in up to 76% of patients treated for 5 years or more.

Andrew D. Clouston, Julie R. Jonsson, Elizabeth E. Powell – 27 April 2009

Robert Flisiak, Saya V. Feinman, Maciej Jablkowski, Andrzej Horban, Wieslaw Kryczka, Małgorzata Pawlowska, Jenny E. Heathcote, Giuseppe Mazzella, Carmen Vandelli, Valérie Nicolas‐Métral, Pierre Grosgurin, Jorge S.

Wan‐Jen Yang, Ching‐Ju Chang, Shiou‐Hwei Yeh, Wei‐Hsiang Lin, Sheng‐Han Wang, Ting‐Fen Tsai, Ding‐Shinn Chen, Pei‐Jer Chen – 27 April 2009 – Hepatitis B virus (HBV)‐related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) occurs predominantly in men. By enhancing the transcriptional activity of the androgen receptor (AR) gene in a ligand‐dependent manner, the HBV X protein (HBx) might contribute to this disparity between sexes. To dissect the mechanisms underlying HBx‐enhanced AR transactivation, we investigated the effect of HBx on two critical steps in the regulation of ligand‐stimulated AR activities.

Ogyi Park, Won‐IL Jeong, Lei Wang, Hua Wang, Zhe‐Xiong Lian, M. Eric Gershwin, Bin Gao – 27 April 2009 – Liver fibrosis is a common scarring response to all forms of chronic liver injury and is always associated with inflammation that contributes to fibrogenesis. Although a variety of cell populations infiltrate the liver during inflammation, it is generically clear that CD8 T lymphocytes promote while natural killer (NK) cells inhibit liver fibrosis. However, the role of invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells, which are abundant in the liver, in hepatic fibrogenesis, remains obscure.

Emanuel K. Manesis – 27 April 2009