Eric Ballot, Arnaud Bruneel, Catherine Johanet, Ana Maria Yamamoto – 30 December 2003

Ryoko Chinzei, Yujiro Tanaka, Keiko Shimizu‐Saito, Yuzuru Hara, Sei Kakinuma, Mamoru Watanabe, Kenichi Teramoto, Shigeki Arii, Kozo Takase, Chifumi Sato, Naohiro Terada, Hirobumi Teraoka – 30 December 2003 – Embryonic stem (ES) cells have a potential to differentiate into various progenitor cells. Here we investigated the differentiation capacity of mouse ES cells into hepatocytes both in vitro and in vivo.

Magali Bouvier‐Alias, Keyur Patel, Harel Dahari, Stéphanie Beaucourt, Patrick Larderie, Lawrence Blatt, Christophe Hezode, Gaston Picchio, Daniel Dhumeaux, Avidan U. Neumann, John G. McHutchison, Jean‐Michel Pawlotsky – 30 December 2003 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA detection, viral load quantification, and HCV genotyping are widely used in clinical practice. Recently, the availability of an anticore antigen (Ag) monoclonal antibody allowed development of an enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) detecting and quantifying total HCV core Ag in peripheral blood of HCV‐infected patients.

Hisashi Moriguchi, Takamoto Uemura, Makoto Kobayashi, Raymond T. Chung, Chifumi Sato – 30 December 2003 – The management of interferon (IFN) therapy for histologically severe chronic hepatitis C virus genotype 1b (HCV‐1b [F3]) is controversial. A decision analysis using the Markov decision analysis model was performed for 6 disease management strategies by using clinical data from a Japanese teaching hospital and available published data. The results of base case analyses showed that IFN monotherapy was considered favorable for patients aged 40 to 60 years with HCV‐1b (F3).

Manabu Morimoto, Kazuya Sugimori, Kazuhito Shirato, Atsushi Kokawa, Naohiko Tomita, Takafumi Saito, Noriko Tanaka, Akinori Nozawa, Masamichi Hara, Hisahiko Sekihara, Hiroshi Shimada, Toshio Imada, Katsuaki Tanaka – 30 December 2003 – To determine whether radiographic images after radiofrequency (RF)‐induced coagulation necrosis are correlated with the pathologic effects, we evaluated the morphology and histologic characteristics of RF ablation lesions over a 6‐month follow‐up period and compared the results with those of radiologic studies.

Feng Liu, Leaf Huang – 30 December 2003 – With the recent completion of the human genome project and the tremendous growth of biotechnology, the desire to extract information concerning gene expression, protein level, subcellular localization, and functionality in the liver will demand the development of efficient gene transfer to this organ with minimal toxicity. In this report, we show that significant gene expression in the liver could be achieved by simple mechanical massage after intravenous injection of naked plasmid DNA into mice.

Satheesh Nair, Sumita Verma, Paul J. Thuluvath – 30 December 2003 – The objective of this study was to determine the impact of pretransplant renal function on graft and patient survival rates after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) using the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database for adults who underwent OLT between 1988 and 1996.

Akitaka Shibuya, Katsuaki Tanaka, Hiroshi Miyakawa, Minoru Shibata, Masao Takatori, Kazuhiko Sekiyama, Naoaki Hashimoto, Shuuichi Amaki, Tatsuji Komatsu, Toshio Morizane – 30 December 2003 – The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is not well known. The aims of this study are to determine HCC incidence and survival, and to identify risk factors associated with these outcomes in patients with PBC. We collected information on 396 patients with PBC at enrollment and followed‐up from 6 to 271 months.

Patrick Baqué, Valérie Pierrefite‐Carle, Adolfo Gavelli, Nicole Brossette, Daniel Benchimol, André Bourgeon, Pascal Staccini, Marie‐Christine Saint‐Paul, Bernard Rossi – 30 December 2003 – The cytosine deaminase (CD) gene converts the nontoxic prodrug, 5‐fluorocytosine (5‐FC), into 5‐fluorouracil (5‐FU). We previously showed that injection of CD‐bearing cancer cells followed by 5‐FC treatment can act as an autologous tumor vaccine in a syngenic liver metastasis model in rats.

Yuki Terui, Takafumi Saito, Hisayoshi Watanabe, Hitoshi Togashi, Sumio Kawata, Yoshihiro Kamada, Shigeru Sakuta – 30 December 2003