Tse‐Ling Fong, Adrian M. Di Bisceglie, Michael A. Gerber, Jeanne G. Waggoner, Jay H. Hoofnagle – 1 December 1993 – To determine whether patients with chronic hepatitis B who lose hepatitis B virus DNA and HBsAg from the serum completely resolve the hepatitis and virus infection, we evaluated serum and liver tissue from 11 patients who had lost HBsAg. These patients were evaluated for clinical, histological and serological features and for hepatitis B virus DNA by use of hybridization and polymerase chain reaction techniques.

Yoshinao Kobayashi, Shozo Watanabe, Masayoshi Konishi, Masato Yokoi, Ryuichi Kakehashi, Masahiko Kaito, Masahiro Kondo, Yuji Hayashi, Takahito Jomori, Shiro Suzuki – 1 December 1993 – We quantified serum hepatitis C virus RNA titers and determined hepatitis C virus subtypes in chronic hepatitis C patients treated with interferon‐β to investigate relationships among serum ALT response, serum hepatitis C virus titer and hepatitis C virus subtype.

Shotaro Sakisaka, Masahide Watanabe, Hideo Tateishi, Masaru Harada, Satoshi Shakado, Yoshihiro Mimura, Kazuhisa Gondo, Masao Yoshitake, Kazunori Noguchi, Teruko Hino, Ryuichi Nohno, Yasuo Majima, Kenji Hirai, Michio Sata, Hiroshi Yoshida, Kyuichi Tanikawa – 1 December 1993 – Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma sometimes have erythrocytosis and high plasma erythropoietin levels. However, previous studies have not revealed direct evidence that the carcinoma cells produce the erythropoietin.

Jeffrey M. Rank, Robert Carithers, Joseph Bloomer – 1 December 1993 – Protoporphyria is a genetic disorder characterized by a defect in the enzyme ferrochelatase, which catalyzes the chelation of iron to protoporphyrin. This causes excessive accumulation and excretion of protoporphyrin. The predominant clinical feature is photosensitivity. Progressive and fatal liver disease occurs in a small percentage of cases.

Raymond S. Koff – 1 December 1993

Noboru Manabe, Michèle Chevallier, Philippe Chossegros, Xavier Causse, Sylviane Guerret, Christian Trépo, Jean‐Alexis Grimaud – 1 December 1993 – The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of interferon‐α on liver fibrosis with an established quantitative histochemical method for determining collagen as a marker. 59 patients (31 men, 28 women; 47 ± 14 yr) with chronic non‐A, non‐B hepatitis (92% with hepatitis C virus antibody) received subcutaneous injections of 3 or 1 MU recombinant interferon‐α2b or placebo thrice weekly for 24 wk.

Elke Roeb, Lutz Graeve, Rolf Hoffmann, Karl Decker, Dylan R. Edwards, Peter C. Heinrich – 1 December 1993 – The steady‐state levels of extracellular matrix proteins are regulated by the rates of their synthesis and degradation. Metalloproteinases and their specific inhibitors, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases‐1 and ‐2 are believed to play a crucial role in extracellular matrix protein degradation. Here we show that the tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases‐1 is expressed in rat hepatocytes in primary culture and regulated by inflammatory cytokines.

David E. Cohen, Eric W. Kaler, Martin C. Carey – 1 December 1993 – Cholesterol, a highly insoluble molecule, is transported in bile by specialized lipid aggregates. On the basis of extensive correlations between laboratory‐prepared model biles and surgically harvested native biles, it has become generally accepted that biliary cholesterol is solubilized by simple and mixed micelles, single bilayered (unilamellar) vesicles and, under certain conditions, multilamellar vesicles (liposomes or liquid crystals) all composed of bile salts, lecithin and cholesterol in different proportions.

1 December 1993

T. Jake Liang, Lennox J. Jeffers, K. Rajender Reddy, Maria De Medina, I. Talley Parker, Hugo Cheinquer, Victor Idrovo, Alfredo Rabassa, Eugene R. Schiff – 1 December 1993 – Chronic hepatitis B virus infection is closely associated with the development of hepatocellular carcinoma, which is a major cause of cancer death worldwide. Recent studies have implicated hepatitis C virus infection as a major pathogenic agent of HBsAg‐negative hepatocellular carcinoma.