I Pult, T Chouard, S Wieland, R Klemenz, M Yaniv, H E Blum – 30 December 2003 – Hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA was cloned from serum of a heart transplant recipient who died from fulminant hepatitis B transmitted by the donor. Restriction enzyme analyses of the clones obtained by conventional cloning yielded six HBV variants: a major species (pF‐1) representing 88% and five minor species (pF‐2 to pF‐6), each representing 2% to 4% of the clones.

Y Zhang, H Mashima, M Kanzaki, H Shibata, I Kojima – 30 December 2003 – The present study was conducted to determine the role of two autocrine factors, activin A and transforming growth factor β (TGF‐β), in the growth regulation of AML12 hepatocytes. We overexpressed truncated type II activin and/or TGF‐β receptors in AML12 cells. In AML12 cells overexpressing truncated type II activin receptors (AML‐tAR cells), the inhibitory effect of activin A on DNA synthesis was completely blocked.

M J Krowka – 30 December 2003

M G Pessoa, N A Terrault, L D Ferrell, J P Kim, J Kolberg, J Detmer, M L Collins, A J Yun, M Viele, J R Lake, J P Roberts, N L Ascher, T L Wright – 30 December 2003 – To examine the prevalence of hepatitis G virus (HGV) in end‐stage liver disease of unknown cause and the role of HGV infection in posttransplantation hepatitis, we studied 46 patients undergoing liver transplantation (mean age, 50 years; M: F, 18:28) with cryptogenic cirrhosis. HGV RNA was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and was quantified by a branched DNA (bDNA) assay.

J R Jonsson, P G Hogan, R Thomas, C Steadman, A D Clouston, G A Balderson, S V Lynch, R W Strong, E E Powell – 30 December 2003 – The aim of this study was to prospectively investigate the peak levels and kinetics of donor leucocyte chimerism in human recipients following liver transplantation. The peak levels of chimerism were observed within the first 48 hours following transplantation and ranged from 0.15% to 20% of total peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

B Lee, H Kang, K Pyun, I Choi – 30 December 2003 – Nitric oxide (NO) synthesis is upregulated during chronic hepatic inflammation. The present study characterized the mechanisms involved in the induction of NO production and inducible NO synthase (iNOS) messenger RNA (mRNA) expression in murine embryonic liver cell line, BNL CL.2 cells. No production by BNL CL.2 cells was induced by interferon‐r (IFN‐r) plus lipopolysaccharide (LPS). However, other inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin (IL)‐β, tumor necrosis factor α (TNF‐α), and IL‐6 had no additional effects on it.

R M Rai, S Loffreda, C L Karp, S Yang, H Lin, A M Diehl – 30 December 2003 – Tumor necrosis factor α (TNF), initiates a cytokine cascade that promotes hepatocyte proliferation after 70% partial hepatectomy (PH) but the mechanisms regulating TNF production after PH are unknown. We previously reported that gadolinium chloride (GdCl), an agent that depletes the liver of phagocytically active Kupffer cells, enhances hepatic expression of TNF messenger RNA (mRNA) and promotes liver regeneration after subsequent PH.

Y Morita, Y Hayashi, Y Wang, T Kanamaru, S Suzuki, K Kawasaki, K Ohta, M Yamamoto, Y Saitoh, H Itoh, W F Doe – 30 December 2003 – It is well known that a urokinase‐type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) is a key protein in the plasminogen activation system, which plays a proteolytically important role in the invasion and metastasis of various cancer cells. To assess the expression of uPAR in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), we analyzed the expression of uPAR messenger RNA (mRNA) and the protein in 31 pair‐samples of solitary HCC and nontumorous liver tissues from the same patients.

K E Fladmark, B T Gjertsen, A Molven, G Mellgren, O K Vintermyr, S O Døskeland – 30 December 2003 – The hepatocytes in the mature normal liver are tightly coupled through gap junctions, except during compensatory hyperplasia (regeneration) after partial hepatectomy when the gap junctions become down‐regulated. The significance of this down‐regulation has been a long‐standing enigma. The present study of hepatocytes in primary culture and in the regenerating liver aimed at defining the relationship, if any, between hepatocyte gap junctional communication and proliferation.

D Herion, J H Hoofnagle – 30 December 2003