BACKGROUND/AIMS Overlap syndrome of autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) and primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) (AIH-PBC overlap syndrome) is a rare disease that has not been clearly characterized in Korean patients. This study investigated the clinical features of AIH-PBC overlap syndrome compared with those of AIH and PBC alone. METHODS This retrospective cohort study included 158 consecutive patients w...

BACKGROUND Coexistent primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and coeliac disease has been recorded but the association has not been systematically studied. AIMS To determine relative prevalences of PBC and coeliac disease in a defined population over a 12 year period. PATIENTS AND METHODS All patients with PBC or coeliac disease in a stable population of 250,000 in South Wales were identified from...

AIM To explore the pathogenesis of primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) by identifying candidate autoantibodies in serum samples by proteomics and bioinformatics. METHODS Nine antimitochondrial antibody (AMA)-positive PBC patients and nine age- and sex-matched AMA-negative PBC patients were recruited. Antigen enrichment technology was applied to capture autoantigens of human intrahepatic biliary...

The incidence of Sjögren syndrome (SS) in primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) patients is high. The influence of SS on the clinical outcomes of PBC patients, however, remains unclear. Our study retrospectively collected data on PBC-only patients and PBC patients with concomitant SS (PBC-SS) to compare the clinical differences of long-term outcomes between them.A total of 183 patients were diagnosed...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Study of health related quality of life (HRQOL) and the factors responsible for its impairment in primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) has, to date, been limited. There is increasing need for a HRQOL questionnaire which is specific to PBC. The aim of this study was to develop, validate, and evaluate a patient based PBC specific HRQOL measure. SUBJECTS AND METHODS A pool of pote...

Although growing evidence suggests a major role for T cells in the pathogenesis of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), the roles of natural killer (NK) and natural killer T (NKT) cells, which predominate in the liver, in the pathogenesis of PBC remain unclear. We investigated the status of NK and NKT cells in the liver and peripheral blood samples obtained from 11 patients with asymptomatic PBC di...

The abundance and sinking of particulate black carbon (PBC) were examined for the first time in the western Arctic and Subarctic Oceans. In the central Arctic Ocean, high PBC concentrations with a mean of 0.021 ± 0.016 μmol L(-1) were observed in the marginal ice zone (MIZ). A number of parameters, including temperature, salinity and (234)Th/(238)U ratios, indicated that both the rapid release ...

BACKGROUND We examined patients who showed laboratory and histological evidence of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) in the absence of antimitochondrial antibody (AMA) to elucidate the characteristics of AMA negative PBC. METHODS From a total of 5,805 patients with symptomatic PBC, 2,419 cases (41.7%) were selected in the present study, who were diagnosed using the following criterion; chronic ...

BACKGROUND AND AIM The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). MATERIAL AND METHODS On the basis of a retrospective review of medical records, all patients consecutively diagnosed with PBC or HCV infection between 1999 and 2011 and who had a regular follow-up of at least 3 years were included in the study...

AIM To determine the prevalence and significance of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC)-specific autoantibodies in first-degree relatives (FDRs) of Greek PBC patients. METHODS The presence of antimitochondrial antibodies (AMA) and PBC-specific antinuclear antibodies (ANA) were determined using indirect immunofluorescence assays, dot-blot assays, and molecularly based enzyme-linked immunosorbent a...