Background Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a progressive inflammatory fribrosing disease of the liver of unknown etiology, which in its normal progress leads to cirrhosis. It is characterized by the increase in aminotranferases and hypergammaglobulinemia, and the presence of nonorgan and specific liver autoantibodies in serum, which allow for its classification. Two subtypes are differentiated: T...

Some patients with autoimmune liver disease have characteristics of cholestasis, as well as of autoimmune hepatitis. Despite the fact that this is a relatively frequent clinical condition seen in referral centers for liver diseases, there is little evidence as regards the clinical management of these syndromes due to their low prevalence and the lack of standardized definitions and diagnostic c...

Vitiligo reflects a systemic process that has important implications beyond the skin. These include other autoimmune diseases and ocular and neurological abnormalities. Alezzandrini syndrome and Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada syndrome particularly exemplify this relationship. In addition, vitiligo may be confused with other systemic disorders, including tuberous sclerosis, progressive systemic sclerosis ...

IThis report highlights the recent discoveries presented at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL), called the International Liver Congress (ILC), which was held in Barcelona, Spain, from April 13th to 17th. Major topics were: viral hepatitis; cirrhosis; immunology & inflammation; transplantation; tumours; fatty liver disease; drug induced diseases...

Waldenström first described the disease entity now termed autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) in 1950, when he observed a chronic form of hepatitis in young women.1 This hepatitis led to cirrhosis and was associated with jaundice, elevated gamma globulins, and amenorrhea.2 The disease was found to be associated with other autoimmune syndromes3 and was later termed “lupoid hepatitis” because of the prese...

These guidelines provide a data-supported approach to the diagnosis and management of patients with autoimmune hepatitis. They are based on the following: (1) a formal review and analysis of the published world literature on autoimmune hepatitis (914 articles) (Medline Search from 1966-2002; the search term was autoimmune hepatitis); (2) recommendations developed and published by the Internatio...

Liver involvement was one of the first extraglandular manifestations to be reported in patients with primary Sjögren syndrome (SS). In the 1990s, a study of liver involvement in patients with primary SS integrated the evaluation of clinical signs of liver disease, liver function and a complete panel of autoantibodies. Recent developments in the field of hepatic and viral diseases have significa...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Giant-cell hepatitis (GCH), also known as postinfantile or syncytial giant cell hepatitis, is a frequent pattern of liver injury in the neonate, primarily seen in the first three months of life. Few cases in adults have been reported, some of them associated to autoimmune diseases such as autoimmune hepatitis. METHODS We present a case of autoimmune hepatitis with giant cell t...

multiple sclerosis (ms) is an autoimmune disease in which auto-reactive t cells react with self-antigens expressed in the central nervous system (cns). the main cause of ms is unknown. nonetheless, the most probable theory is based on molecular mimicry, which suggests that some infections can activate t cells against brain auto-antigens like myelin proteolipid protein (plp) and initiate the dis...

The type I interferon system plays a critical role in host defense in health, and a growing body of literature suggests that type I interferon is a critical mediator of human autoimmune disease (1). Type I interferons function as a bridge between the innate and adaptive immune systems, and as such play an important role in setting thresholds for response against self antigens. Many investigator...