Pere Ginès, Mónica Guevara – 30 December 2003

Béatrice Seignères, Christian Pichoud, Perrine Martin, Philip Furman, Christian Trépo, Fabien Zoulim – 30 December 2003 – To design combination strategies for chronic hepatitis B therapy, we evaluated in vitro the inhibitory activity of 4 nucleoside analogs, (−)FTC, L‐FMAU, DXG, and DAPD, in comparison with lamivudine (3TC) and PMEA.

George K. K. Lau, Ming‐Liang He, Daniel Y. T. Fong, Angeline Bartholomeusz, Wing‐yan Au, Albert K. W. Lie, Stephen Locarnini, Raymond Liang – 30 December 2003 – Exacerbation of hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a serious cause of morbidity and mortality in hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)‐positive patients undergoing transplantation. Our aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of lamivudine to prevent hepatitis due to exacerbation of HBV in HBsAg‐positive patients treated with allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation.

Ping Zhao, Thomas F. Kalhorn, John T. Slattery – 30 December 2003 – Chronic alcohol consumption may potentiate acetaminophen (APAP) hepatotoxicity through enhanced formation of N‐acetyl‐p‐benzoquinone imine (NAPQI) via induction of cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1). However, CYP2E1 induction appears to be insufficient to explain the claimed magnitude of the interaction. We assessed the role of selective depletion of liver mitochondrial glutathione (GSH) by chronic ethanol. Rats were fed the Lieber‐DeCarli diet for 10 days or 6 weeks.

Moritoshi Kinoshita, Masahiko Miyata – 30 December 2003 – Genetic alterations associated with human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have been reported previously, but are not sufficient to specify differences of HCCs from precancerous diseases of the liver, such as hepatitis, hepatic fibrosis, and cirrhosis. In the present study, we performed differential gene display analysis (DGDA) to clarify the specific genetic alterations associated with gene expression changes in the course of development of HCC from chronic viral hepatitis.

W. Ray Kim, Robert S. Brown, Norah A. Terrault, Hashem El‐Serag – 30 December 2003

Pascal Lebray, Yves Benhamou, Stanislas Pol, Robert P. Myers, Thierry Poynard, Vincent Di Martino – 30 December 2003

Harmeet Malhi, Pallavi annamaneni, Sanjeev Slehria, Brigid Joseph, Kuldeep K. Bhargava, Christopher J. Palestro, Phyllis M. Novikoff, Sanjeev Gupta – 30 December 2003 – To determine whether disruption of the hepatic sinusoidal endothelium will facilitate engraftment of transplanted cells, we treated Fischer 344 (F344) rats lacking dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPPIV) activity with cyclophosphamide (CP). Electron microscopy showed endothelial injury within 6 hours following CP, and, after 24 and 48 hours, the endothelium was disrupted in most hepatic sinusoids.

Karan M. Emerick, Peter F. Whitington – 30 December 2003 – Alagille syndrome (AGS) causes intractable pruritus and disfiguring xanthomas because of retained bile acids and cholesterol. This study was performed to determine whether partial external biliary diversion (PEBD) is effective for relief of pruritus and xanthomas in AGS patients who fail conventional medical therapy. Between the years 1985 and 2001, 9 AGS patients underwent PEBD. Complete follow‐up data were available for all patients. The average age at PEBD was 4.8 (range 1.4‐10) years.

William M. Pandak, Phillip B. Hylemon, Shunlin Ren, Dalila Marques, Gregorio Gil, Kaye Redford, Darrell Mallonee, Z. Rano Vlahcevic – 30 December 2003 – Conversion of cholesterol into 7α‐hydroxylated bile acids is a principal pathway of cholesterol disposal. Cholesterol 7α‐hydroxylase (CYP7A1) is the initial and rate‐determining enzyme in the “classic” pathway of bile acid synthesis. An “alternative” pathway of bile acid synthesis is initiated by sterol 27‐hydroxylase (CYP27) with subsequent 7α‐hydroxylation of 27‐hydroxycholesterol by oxysterol 7α‐hydroxylase (CYP7B1).