Hiromi Himeno, Toshiji Saibara, Saburo Onishi, Yasutake Yamamoto, Hideaki Enzan – 1 August 1992 – In various organ‐specific autoimmune diseases, aberrant expression of major histocompatibility complex class II antigens on each target epithelial cell has been reported. Some researchers have attempted to link this phenomenon to the antigen‐presenting capacity and the induction of autoimmunity, whereas others think it might serve as a peripheral mechanism for the induction and the maintenance of self‐tolerance in autoreactive T cells.

Steven E. Raper, Piyush C. Kothary, John Del Valle – 1 August 1992 – Binding of somatostatin‐14 to rat liver plasma membranes was characterized with 125‐labeled[tyr11] somatostatin‐14. Binding at 24° C reached a plateau at 50 min and was reversible by synthetic somatostatin‐14. Scatchard analysis revealed a single class of binding sites (affinity constant = 2.4 ± 0.2 nmol/L, binding capacity = 148 ± 0.02 fmol/mg protein).

Kris V. Kowdley, Anthony S. Tavill – 1 August 1992 – An iron loaded liver from a 40 year old man with occult haemochromatosis was transplanted into a 19 year old woman with acute liver failure secondary to a paracetamol overdose. Increased parenchymal hepatic iron was found in a liver specimen at biopsy under‐taken because of mild rejection 30 days after transplantation. After transplantation the patient had two episodes of liver rejection confirmed by biopsy. The hepatic iron concentration fell from 161 μmol/g on day 30 after transplant to 26.5 μmol/g (normal < 40) on day 210.

Giuseppe Maggiore, Costantino de Giacomo – 1 August 1992

Chen‐Kung Chou, Li‐Hsien Wang, Hsing‐Mei Lin, Chin‐Wen Chi – 1 July 1992 – Glucocorticoids have been shown to influence the severity of hepatitis B virus–related chronic hepatitis in human. However, very little is known about the effects of glucocorticoids on hepatitis B virus replication in vitro. In this report, we used a welldifferentiated human hepatoma cell line, Hep3B, transfected with hepatitis B virus complementary DNA as a model to show that a glucocorticoid analog, dexamethasone, can directly stimulate the production of HBsAg and HBeAg.

Luis Sanchez‐Urdazpal, Gregory J. Gores, Ellen M. Ward, Timothy P. Maus, H. Erik Wahlstrom, S. Breanndan Moore, Russell H. Wiesner, Ruud A. F. Krom – 1 July 1992 – Nonanastomotic biliary strictures that involve only the biliary tree of the graft occur after orthotopic liver transplantation in patients with hepatic artery thrombosis, chronic ductopenic rejection and ABO blood group incompatibility. This complication may also occur in the absence of these known risk factors.

Shuichi Okada, Nobuo Okazaki, Haruhiko Nose, Masayoshi Yoshimori, Kazunori Aoki – 1 July 1992 – A total of 71 consecutive patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma were analyzed retrospectively to determine the significant prognostic factors. All the patients received systemic chemotherapy in a phase 2 study from 1980 to 1990, with no other anticancer treatment. Median survival time and 1‐yr and 2‐yr survival rates were 5.6 mo, 23% and 5%, respectively.

Norman L. Sussman, Maria G. Chong, Tarek Koussayer, Da‐Er He, Thomas A. Shang, Hartwell H. Whisennand, James H. Kelly – 1 July 1992 – Liver transplantation is currently the only effective therapy for patients with fulminant hepatic failure. The availability of an artificial liver could bridge these patients through the relatively brief crisis period and allow their own livers to regenerate, providing a more favorable outcome and sparing the trauma and expense of transplant.

Jeremiah P. Donovan, Byers W. Shaw, Alan N. Langnas, Michael F. Sorrell – 1 July 1992

1 July 1992