Pavel Taimr, Hajime Higuchi, Eva Kocova, Richard A. Rippe, Scott Friedman, Gregory J. Gores – 30 December 2003 – Apoptosis has emerged as an important mechanism to reduce numbers of activated stellate cells during the resolution phase of hepatic fibrosis. These observations suggest that activated stellate cells may be more susceptible to apoptotic stimuli than their quiescent counterparts.

Mitchell L. Shiffman – 30 December 2003 – Significant advances have been made in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection during the past 5 years. As a consequence, there is continuing enthusiasm for retreating patients who did not achieve sustained virological response (SVR) with previous therapy. Retreatment of non‐responders to standard interferon monotherapy using interferon and ribavirin has yielded SVR rates of 12% to 15%. Retreatment with peginterferon and ribavirin has been more effective; achieving SVR rates of 34% to 40%.

David Oldach – 30 December 2003

Markus F. Wolschek, Christiane Thallinger, Malgorzata Kursa, Vanessa Rössler, Matthew Allen, Cornelia Lichtenberger, Ralf Kircheis, Trevor Lucas, Martin Willheim, Walter Reinisch, Alfred Gangl, Ernst Wagner, Burkhard Jansen – 30 December 2003 – Systemic tumor‐targeted gene delivery is attracting increasing attention as a promising alternative to conventional therapeutical strategies. To be considered as a viable option, however, the respective transgene has to be administered with high tumor specificity.

Akihiro Obora, Yoshimune Shiratori, Masataka Okuno, Seiji Adachi, Yukihiko Takano, Rie Matsushima‐Nishiwaki, Ichiro Yasuda, Yasuhiro Yamada, Kuniharu Akita, Tetsuro Sano, Jun Shimada, Soichi Kojima, Yukio Okano, Scott L. Friedman, Hisataka Moriwaki – 30 December 2003 – Acyclic retinoid, a synthetic retinoid analog, as well as interferon alfa (IFN‐α) and IFN‐β induce apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells and are used clinically in the prevention of HCC.

Alberto Larghi, Massimo Zuin, Andrea Crosignani, Maria Lisa Ribero, Cristina Pipia, Pier Maria Battezzati, Giorgio Binelli, Francesco Donato, Alessandro Remo Zanetti, Mauro Podda, Alessandro Tagger – 30 December 2003 – We identified 15 patients with acute hepatitis C (AHC) among 29 healthy volunteers participating in 2 consecutive pharmacokinetics studies. Molecular techniques were used to determine the relatedness of viral strains, whereas clinical and virologic follow‐up was started to establish the course and outcome of the acute infection.

Michael André Kern, Dominic Schubert, Dina Sahi, Mirja Mareike Schöneweiß, Ilona Moll, Anke Maria Haugg, Hans Peter Dienes, Kai Breuhahn, Peter Schirmacher – 30 December 2003 – Recent studies have shown increased levels of cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2) in a variety of human malignancies, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but so far it is unknown whether COX‐2 contributes to the malignant growth and whether inhibition of COX‐2 function modifies the malignant potential of liver tumors.

Hartmut Jaeschke – 30 December 2003

Zeid Kayali, Victor E. Buckwold, Bridget Zimmerman, Warren N. Schmidt – 30 December 2003 – Approximately 40% of patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection develop detectable serum cryoglobulins or cryoprecipitates (CP), although most do not show clinical or physical signs of syndromic cryoglobulinemia. Although association of HCV with the extrahepatic complications of cryoglobulinemia is widely recognized, the relationship of cryoglobulinemia with liver disease is unclear.

Diego Vergani, Giorgina Mieli‐Vergani – 30 December 2003