Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a chronic progressive cholestatic liver disease caused by diffuse inflammation, destruction and fibrosis of the intrahepatic bile ducts, ultimately leading to cirrhosis, portal hypertension and liver failure. The pathogenesis of PBC is incompletely understood, but current data suggest roles for genetic susceptibility and environmental factors. PBC is often tho...

Recent studies have shown that hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) arises relatively frequently at an advanced, cirrhotic stage of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) without evidence of hepatitis viral infection (1–3), though the precise incidence of such association remains unclarified. Shibuya et al reported that most HCC associated with PBC arise at the cir-rhotic stage and in males gender and the r...

Patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) can have extrahepatic manifestations. However, data about cardiac involvement of PBC is limited. We aimed in this study to analyze the clinical characteristics in patients with PBC complicated with and without cardiac involvement, and the risk factors of cardiac involvement in PBC. PBC patients admitted to Peking Union Medical College Hospital bet...

Although the development of extra intestinal manifestations during the course of IBD is well known, a controlled study indicated that 6.6% of UC patients and 1.9% of CD patients had at least 1 autoimmune disorder [5]. Cases of concomitant PBC and IBD are uncommon [6-22]. In addition, cases of concomitant PBC and CD appear to be extremely rare [21,22]; however, cases of concomitant PBC and UC ha...

The true incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) remains undetermined due to limited epidemiological studies and some conflicting results. Some studies indicated that in PBC, male gender, cirrhosis, hepatitis C virus (HCV) superinfection, and history of blood transfusion are associated with the development of HCC, and the occurrence of HCC in...

Over the past two decades, a number of studies have failed to provide direct evidence of specific microbial chronic infection in primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). However, a recent report suggests that there is a specific association of Chlamydia pneumoniae in patients with PBC and that C. pneumoniae or similar antigens might play a role in the pathogenesis of disease. To determine if Chlamydia ...

INTRODUCTION Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) have been referred to as "generalized autoimmune epithelitis". Indeed, the pathogenic mechanisms, clinical features, and optimal therapeutic approaches for them are not yet fully defined. MATERIAL AND METHODS A retrospective analysis was carried out on clinical data obtained from 302 inpatients newly diagnosed w...

Nitrate-nitrogen (nitrate-N) removal rates can be increased substantially in denitrifying bioreactors with a corn ( L.) cob bed medium compared with woodchips; however, additional organic carbon (C) is released into the effluent. This laboratory column experiment was conducted to test the performance of a postbed chamber of inert plastic biofilm carrier (PBC) after corn cobs (CC) to extend the ...

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) play an indispensable role in the progression of primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). Although Tregs could normalize costimulation in in vivo and in vitro models, it is obscure whether and how Tregs mediate these effects in PBC. Herein we focused on the quantitative and functional characteristics of Tregs in PBC. The number and proportion of Tregs, and the production of...

Hepatic copper accumulation is a regular feature of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). The levels are directly related to the clinical stage of the disease. Since the copper values in PBC are comparable to Wilson's disease, there is the potential for copper toxicity, although this is speculative since the two diseases differ in the binding, distribution, and intracellular localization of the copp...