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...

BACKGROUND Patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) often present hyperlipidemia, which is a risk factor of incident coronary artery disease (CAD). However, few studies have examined CAD in PBC. METHODS We identified 41 patients who developed CAD amongst 2,675 PBC cases across seven years and selected the PBC patients without CAD as controls according to sex and age. RESULTS Females do...

Primary biliary cirrhosis is an autoimmune cholestatic liver disease characterized by humoral and cellular response directed at mitochondrial autoantigens, mainly the E2 component of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex. The etiology of PBC, like most polygenic autoimmune diseases, belongs to the "complex" category, including genetic elements and environmental factors. Many environmental factors,...

Although, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) is commonly characterized by extrahepatic manifestation of PBC, the coexistence of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and Graves’ disease (GD) is uncommon. Here, we conducted a review of the English and Japanese literature, including proceedings, regarding the coexistence of PBC and GD. Of 24 reviewed patients, all of who were female, there was no clear tende...

Antimitochondrial, anti-gp210, anti-sp100, and anticentromere antibodies are specifically detected in primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). In clinical practice, they are useful for the diagnosis of PBC or for evaluating disease severity, clinical phenotype, and long-term outcome. In the typical or classical form of PBC which shows slow progressive loss of small bile ducts with a parallel increase i...