Selmi Carlo, Gershwin M Eric
Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Clinical Immunology, University of California at Davis, Davis, California 95616, USA.
Curr Opin Rheumatol. 2004 Jul;16(4):406-10. doi: 10.1097/01.bor.0000130538.76808.c2.
Primary biliary cirrhosis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the intrahepatic bile ducts that eventually leads to liver cirrhosis and organ failure, in which several observations suggest an autoimmune origin. Similarly to other autoimmune diseases, microbial mediated molecular mimicry is the most widely studied trigger that may break immunologic tolerance in primary biliary cirrhosis.
The hypothesis of a bacterial role in the cause of primary biliary cirrhosis has received recent attention, based on in vitro data and the identification of a unique xenobiotic-metabolizing bacterium that modulates naturally occurring environmental estrogens, namely, Novosphingobium aromaticivorans.
The evidence indicates that bacteria, through different mechanisms, may precipitate autoimmunity in primary biliary cirrhosis and other autoimmune diseases. These data have several implications.
原发性胆汁性肝硬化是一种肝内胆管的慢性炎症性疾病，最终会导致肝硬化和器官衰竭，多项观察结果提示其起源于自身免疫。与其他自身免疫性疾病类似，微生物介导的分子模拟是原发性胆汁性肝硬化中最广泛研究的可能打破免疫耐受的触发因素。
基于体外数据以及对一种独特的可调节天然环境雌激素的外源性代谢细菌（即芳香新鞘氨醇菌）的鉴定，原发性胆汁性肝硬化病因中细菌作用的假说最近受到了关注。
证据表明，细菌可能通过不同机制在原发性胆汁性肝硬化和其他自身免疫性疾病中引发自身免疫。这些数据具有多种意义。
