Zhaorui Lian, Jie Liu, Li Li, Xianxing Li, Marcy Clayton, Meng‐Chao Wu, Hong‐Yang Wang, Patrick Arbuthnot, Michael Kew, Daiming Fan, Mark A. Feitelson – 22 February 2006 – Intrahepatic expression of hepatitis B x antigen (HBxAg) is associated with the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), perhaps through trans‐activation of selected cellular genes. When this was examined by PowerBlot analysis, upregulated levels of β‐catenin and several known β‐catenin effectors were observed in HBxAg‐positive compared with HBxAg‐negative HepG2 cells.

Flavia Bortolotti, Maria Guido, Samuela Bartolacci, Paolo Cadrobbi, Carlo Crivellaro, Franco Noventa, Giulia Morsica, Maria Moriondo, Angelo Gatta – 22 February 2006 – Chronic hepatitis B is usually a benign disease in Caucasian children; however, the long‐term prognosis remains unsettled. This report describes the results of a 29‐year longitudinal study including 99 white children with chronic hepatitis B, mainly acquired horizontally: 91 were hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) positive (4 had cirrhosis), and 8 were HBeAg negative at presentation.

Yoshihiro Ikura, Masahiko Ohsawa, Takehisa Suekane, Hiroko Fukushima, Hiroyuki Itabe, Hisato Jomura, Shuhei Nishiguchi, Takeshi Inoue, Takahiko Naruko, Shoichi Ehara, Norifumi Kawada, Tetsuo Arakawa, Makiko Ueda – 22 February 2006 – Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis/nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is considered to be a hepatic manifestation of various metabolic disorders. However, its precise pathogenic mechanism is obscure. Oxidative stress and consequent lipid peroxidation seem to play a pivotal role in disease progression.

Yves Benhamou, Herve Fleury, Pascale Trimoulet, Isabelle Pellegrin, Renaud Urbinelli, Christine Katlama, Willy Rozenbaum, Gwenael Le Teuff, Aldo Trylesinski, Christophe Piketty – 22 February 2006 – Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) has shown in vitro activity against both HIV and hepatitis B virus (HBV). We retrospectively evaluated the efficacy of TDF (300 mg/d), administered as a part of anti‐retroviral therapy, in a large cohort of HIV/HBV‐coinfected patients.

Christoph Neumann‐Haefelin, Susan McKiernan, Scott Ward, Sergei Viazov, Hans Christian Spangenberg, Thomas Killinger, Thomas F. Baumert, Natalja Nazarova, Isabelle Sheridan, Oliver Pybus, Fritz von Weizsäcker, Michael Roggendorf, Dermot Kelleher, Paul Klenerman, Hubert E. Blum, Robert Thimme – 22 February 2006 – Virus‐specific CD8+ T cell responses play an important role in the natural course of infection; however, the impact of certain CD8+ T cell responses in determining clinical outcome has not been fully defined.

Patrick T.F. Kennedy, Simonetta Urbani, Rebecca A. Moses, Barbara Amadei, Paola Fisicaro, Jilly Lloyd, Mala K. Maini, Geoffrey Dusheiko, Carlo Ferrari, Antonio Bertoletti – 22 February 2006 – Detection of hepatitis C virus (HCV)‐specific T cell response after exposure to hepatitis C in anti‐HCV–positive or anti‐HCV–negative patients has been associated with an ability to successfully control the infection. However, cross‐reactivity between common human pathogens and HCV sequences has been demonstrated.

Albert J. Czaja, Herschel A. Carpenter – 22 February 2006 – Autoimmune hepatitis is classically a disease of young women. Our aims were to determine its occurrence, clinical phenotype, and outcome in elderly patients and contrast findings to young adults. Two‐hundred‐and‐five white North American adults with definite type 1 autoimmune hepatitis were grouped according to age at presentation and the groups compared. Forty‐seven patients (23%) were aged ≥60 years (median age, 68 years), and 31 patients (15%) were aged ≤30 years (median age, 25 years).

Burton Combes – 22 February 2006

Shan‐Shan Zhan, Joy X. Jiang, Jian Wu, Charles Halsted, Scott L. Friedman, Mark A. Zern, Natalie J. Torok – 22 February 2006 – Hepatic stellate cell activation is a main feature of liver fibrogenesis. We have previously shown that phagocytosis of apoptotic bodies by stellate cells induces procollagen α1 (I) and transforming growth factor beta (TGF‐β) expression in vitro.

Aftab Ala, Carmen M. Stanca, Moueen Bu‐Ghanim, Imad Ahmado, Andrea D. Branch, Thomas D. Schiano, Joseph A. Odin, Nancy Bach – 22 February 2006 – Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) are uncommon liver diseases of unknown etiology. Reported clustering of PBC cases may be due to environmental factors. Individuals with PBC have a high prevalence of thyroid disease and thyroid disease is reportedly more prevalent near Superfund toxic waste sites (SFS).