Is hepatitis B virus smarter than the immune system?

Marion Peters – 1 March 1995 – It has been suggested that mutations within immunodominant cytotoxic T‐lymphocyte (CTL) epitopes may be exploited by viruses to evade protective immune responses critical for clearance.1–4 Viral escape could originate from passive mechanisms, such as mutations within curcial CTL epitopes, either affecting major histocompatibility complex binding or T‐cell antigen receptor (TCR) recognition.

Conditional immortalization of gunn rat hepatocytes: An ex vivo model for evaluating methods for bilirubin‐UDP‐glucuronosyltransferase gene transfer

Ira J. Fox, Namita Roy Chowdhury, Sanjeev Gupta, Ravi Kondapalli, Michael L. Schilsky, Richard J. Stockert, Jayanta Roy Chowdhury – 1 March 1995 – Viral vectors and protein carriers utilizing asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGR)‐mediated endocytosis are being developed to transfer genes for the correction of bilirubin‐UDP‐glucuronosyltransferase (bilirubin‐UGT) deficiency. Ex vivo evaluation of these gene transfer vectors would be facilitated by a cell system that lacks bilirubin‐UGT, but expresses differentiated liver functions, including ASGR.

Extramedullary erythropoiesis in human liver grafts

Hans Jürgen Schlitt, Sabine Schäfers, Andrea Deiwick, Kai‐Uwe Eckardt, Torsten Pietsch, Wolfram Ebell, Björn Nashan, Burckhardt Ringe, Kurt Wonigeit, Rudolf Pichlmayr – 1 March 1995 – Extramedullary erythropoiesis in the adult is very rare and is generally confined to situations of severe bone marrow irritation or replacement. In this study, we describe the occurrence of intrahepatic erythropoiesis in patients who have received a liver allograft and who have no evidence of bone marrow dysfunction.

Growth hormone, insulinlike growth factor‐1, and insulinlike growth factor binding proteins 1 and 3 in chronic liver disease

Anthony Donaghy, Richard Ross, Alexander Gimson, Sian Cwyfan Hughes, Jeffrey Holly, Roger Williams – 1 March 1995 – The liver is the major source of circulating insulinlike growth factor‐I (IGF‐I) and has been suggested as a major source of at least two of the major binding proteins that modify its bioavailability.

An anesthetized model of lethal canine galactosamine fulminant hepatic failure

Timothy D. Sielaff, Michael Y. Hu, Mark D. Rollins, Joseph R. Bloomer, Bruce Amiot, Wei‐Shou Hu, Frank B. Cerra – 1 March 1995 – A reproducible large animal model of fulminant hepatic failure was developed in the anesthetized dog by the administration of the amino sugar D‐galactosamine. Galactosamine in 5% dextrose in water (D5W), was given as an intravenous bolus to 10 young male dogs weighing 27 to 30 kg. Three dogs that received an equal volume of D5W alone served as controls.

The development of anti‐hepatitis C virus agents

Kunitada Shimotohno – 1 March 1995 – We have built a model of the specificity pocket of the protease of hepatitis C virus on the basis of the known structures of trypsin‐like serine proteases and of the conservation pattern of the protease sequences among various hepatitis C strains. The model allowed us to predict that the substrate of this protease should have a cysteine residue in position P1. This hypothesis was subsequently proved by N‐terminal sequencing of two products of the protease.

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