Interferon‐α and zidovudine combination therapy for chronic hepatitis B: Results of a randomized, placebo‐controlled trial

Harry L. A. Janssen, Luuk Berk, Rudolf A. Heijtink, Fiebo J. W. Ten Kate, Solko W. Schalm – 1 March 1993 – Interferon‐α therapy leads to HBeAg seroconversion in only one third of patients with chronic hepatitis B. In an attempt to increase the seroconversion rate, we investigated the combination of interferon‐α and zidovudine in a subset of patients with presumably low response rates for interferon‐α monotherapy.

A rapid method to study heterogeneous gene expression in liver by direct assay of messenger RNA from periportal and perivenous cell lysates

Juhani Saarinen, Ritva Saarelainen, Kai O. Lindros – 1 March 1993 – To study zonation of liver gene expression, we obtained periportal or perivenous rat liver cell lysates virtually devoid of nuclear material by site‐directed digitonin infusion in situ. Total RNA was isolated, messenger RNAs were reverse transcribed and complementary DNAs were assayed after polymerase chain reaction–mediated amplification.

Creatine kinase‐BB: A marker of liver sinusoidal damage in ischemia‐reperfusion

Michel Vaubourdolle, Olivier Chazouilleres, Raoul Poupon, François Ballet, Jacqueline Braundwald, Claire Legendre, Bruno Baudin, André Kirn, Jacqueline Giboudeau – 1 March 1993 – Cell damage within the sinusoidal lining of human liver grafts during transplantation is an early event that is critical in ischemia‐reperfusion injury and probably plays a key role in primary liver dysfunction after transplantation. No simple biochemical marker for sinusoidal injury is currently available.

Administration of hepatic stimulatory substance alone or with other liver growth factors does not ameliorate acetaminophen‐induced liver failure

Antonio Francavilla, Alessandro Azzarone, Guiseppe Carrieri, Umberto Cillo, David Van Thiel, Vladimir Subbottin, Thomas E. Starzl – 1 March 1993 – Sixty‐two beagle dogs were given three doses of acetaminophen over a period of 24 hr in a fulminant liver failure model that is 70% lethal in 72 hr. Treatment of the animals with hepatic stimulatory substance alone or in a mixture with insulin, transforming growth factor‐α and insulin‐like growth factor II had no effect on mortality.

Tauroursodeoxycholate and tauro‐β‐muricholate exert cytoprotection by reducing intrahepatocyte taurochenodeoxycholate content

Takayuki Ohiwa, Kenji Katagiri, Makoto Hoshino, Tomihiro Hayakawa, Tomio Nakai – 1 March 1993 – Cytoprotection by tauroursodeoxycholic acid and tauro‐β‐muricholic acid against taurochenodeoxycholic acid–induced toxicity was examined with reference to intracellular bile acid content in primary cultured rat hepatocytes.

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