Obviously, immunoprophylaxis of perinatal HBV infection, implemented since 1986 on a national basis, has been insufficient to prevent horizontal HBV/A infection diffusing among high-risk groups by http://www.selleckchem.com/products/DAPT-GSI-IX.html transmission routes shared by HIV infection. The foreseeable spread of HBV/A infection in Japan should be prevented by universal vaccination programs extended to high-risk groups or the general population. Acknowledgments The study was supported in part by a grant-in-aid from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan and a grant-in-aid from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. We thank T. Kimura and K. Sato, Institutes of Immunology Co., Ltd.

(Tokyo, Japan), for determining HBV genotypes in this study and Takashi Saito, Yamagata University Hospital; Akihiro Matsumoto, Shinshu University Hospital; Yasuhiro Asahina, Musashino Red Cross Hospital; Yoshito Ito, University Hospital, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine; Keiko Hosho, Tottori University Hospital; Morikazu Onji, Ehime University Hospital; Tatsuya Ide, Kurume University Hospital; and Hiroshi Sakugawa, Hospital, University of the Ryukyus, for their help throughout this work. Kentaro Matsuura wrote the study protocol and the first draft of the manuscript and performed the experiments and statistical analysis. Yasuhito Tanaka contributed to the experimental work and the final version of the manuscript.

Shuhei Hige, Gotaro Yamada, Yoshikazu Murawaki, Masafumi Komatsu, Tomoyuki Kuramitsu, Sumio Kawata, Eiji Tanaka, Namiki Izumi, Chiaki Okuse, Shinichi Kakumu, Takeshi Okanoue, Keisuke Hino, Yoichi Hiasa, Michio Sata, and Tatsuji Maeshiro contributed to the collection of the samples and clinical data from patients and to the final version of the manuscript. Fuminaka Sugauchi, Shunsuke Nojiri, Takashi Joh, and Yuzo Miyakawa contributed to the final version of the manuscript. Masashi Mizokami had the original idea and did the planning of the study and contributed to the final version of the manuscript. All of the authors have seen and approved the final draft of the manuscript. Footnotes Published ahead of print on 18 March 2009.
The antibiotics and iron chelators used in this study are listed in Table 1 and were obtained from Sigma (St. Louis, MO), with the exception of deferasirox, which was a generous gift from Novartis (Basel, Switzerland).

Stock solutions of compounds were prepared in minimum essential medium (MEM) and made fresh immediately before use. Unless otherwise stated, conalbumin, DFO, and DSX were used at 20 ��g/ml, 400 ��g/ml, and 1 ��M respectively. These concentrations are able to chelate the approximately 0.1 ��M iron present in the medium. In addition, the concentrations of DFO and DSX used in this study were lower than or Cilengitide equal to the daily doses used in clinical practice to treat chronic iron overload.