Editorial
Copyright ©2008 The WJG Press and Baishideng. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jun 7, 2008; 14(21): 3290-3291
Published online Jun 7, 2008. doi: 10.3748/wjg.14.3290
Autoimmune liver diseases
Pietro Invernizzi, Ian R Mackay
Pietro Invernizzi, Division of Internal Medicine and Liver Unit, San Paolo Hospital School of Medicine, University of Milan, Milan 20142, Italy
Pietro Invernizzi, Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Clinical Immunology, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, Unite States
Ian R Mackay, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia
Correspondence to: Pietro Invernizzi, Division of Internal Medicine and Liver Unit, San Paolo Hospital School of Medicine, University of Milan, Milan 20142, Italy. pietro.invernizzi@unimi.it
Telephone: +39-2-50323088
Fax: +39-2-50323089
Received: March 19, 2008
Revised: March 31, 2008
Accepted: April 7, 2008
Published online: June 7, 2008
Abstract

The liver was one of the earliest recognized sites among autoimmune diseases yet autoimmune hepatitis, primary biliary cirrhosis, primary sclerosing cholangitis, and their overlap forms, are still problematic in diagnosis and causation. The contributions herein comprise 'pairs of articles' on clinical characteristics, and concepts of etiopathogenesis, for each of the above diseases, together with childhood autoimmune liver disease, overlaps, interpretations of diagnostic serology, and liver transplantation. This issue is timely, since we are witnessing an ever increasing applicability of immunology to a wide variety of chronic diseases, hepatic and non-hepatic, in both developed and developing countries. The 11 invited expert review articles capture the changing features over recent years of the autoimmune liver diseases, the underlying immunomolecular mechanisms of development, the potent albeit still unexplained genetic influences, the expanding repertoire of immunoserological diagnostic markers, and the increasingly effective therapeutic possibilities.

Keywords: Autoimmunity; Autoimmune liver diseases; Immunopathogenic processes; Clinical immunology