Antimitochondrial antibodies (AMA) are the serum hallmark of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). However, AMA-positivity can be found in non-PBC sera when lower dilutions are used, thus raising issues about the specificity and sensitivity of the test. AMA reacts primarily with the lipoylated domains of pyruvate dehydrogenase-E2 (PDC-E2) which is highly conserved across species, including bacteria....

BACKGROUND Polymorphisms of vitamin D receptor (VDR) contribute to the pathogenesis of multiple autoimmune conditions. METHODS We investigated the incidence of VDR polymorphisms (rs1544410-BsmI; rs7975232-ApaI; rs731236-TaqI) in a group of patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC, n = 275) and in healthy controls (n = 376). Additionally, correlations of the VDR polymorphisms with cli...

Background. Acute immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is a common, benign, self-limiting disease in children. Chronic ITP is diagnosed when thorombocytopenia persists beyond 12 months. Older age is associated with increased risk for development of chronic ITP. The main objective of the current study was to examine whether total leukocyte (TLC) and absolute lymphocyte counts (ALC) at diagnosis...

discussion the disappearance of olp might be due to immunosuppressive therapy following liver transplantation. further observations and studies are necessary to clarify the relationship between olp and pbc. case presentation we describe a case of oral lichen planus (olp) accompanied with pbc that resolved following liver transplantation 14 years later. this patient received immunosuppressive dr...

A 57-year-old woman with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and limited systemic sclerosis (lSSc) was suspected to have lymphadenopathy and primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). Lymph node biopsy showed reactive follicular lymphadenopathy with intrafollicular plasmacyte infiltration that was interleukin-6 positive by immunohistostaining. Because of gradually worsening arthritis, tocilizumab was administered ...

Etiology Increased frequency in family members of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) suggests that there are genetically determined susceptibility factors. Several etiological factors, including infectious agents, environmental toxins or drugs, and abnormal or toxic bile acids, have been suggested as having putative roles in the development of PBC. Similar to other presumed autoimmun...

Background: In radiation therapy, the peripheral dose is important when anatomical structures with very low dose tolerances are involved. In this study, the two available calculation algorithms of the Varian Eclipse 8.6 treatment planning system(TPS), the anisotropic analytic algorithm (AAA) and pencil-beam convolution (PBC) was used to compare measured and calculated peripheral dose distributi...

The immunodominant antimitochondrial antibody response in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is directed against the E2 component of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC-E2). Based on our earlier observations regarding peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) T cell epitopes, we reasoned that a comparative analysis of the precursor frequencies of PDC-E2 163-176-specific T cells is...

In this study, we examined temporal changes in the incidence of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and investigated associations between PBC incidence and sociodemographic factors and spatial clustering. We included 982 patients aged ≥40 years fromNorth East England with incident PBC diagnosed during 1987–2003. Age-standardized incidence rates with 95% confidence intervals were calculated. Negativ...

BACKGROUND Chronic liver disease is characterised by excessive deposition of collagen and other extracellular matrix proteins, produced mainly, but not exclusively, by activated hepatic stellate cells in the perisinusoidal space. In primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) fibrosis is concentrated mainly around the portal tracts. AIMS To examine the hypothesis that, in addition to hepatic stellate cel...