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©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Pharmacol Ther. Aug 6, 2015; 6(3): 32-58
Published online Aug 6, 2015. doi: 10.4292/wjgpt.v6.i3.32
Published online Aug 6, 2015. doi: 10.4292/wjgpt.v6.i3.32
Primary biliary cirrhosis: From bench to bedside
Elias Kouroumalis, Department of Gastroenterogy and Hepatology, University of Crete Medical School, 71003 Heraklion, Crete, Greece
George Notas, Department of Experimental Endocrinology, University of Crete Medical School, 71003 Heraklion, Crete, Greece
George Notas, Institute of Applied Computational Mathematics, Foundation of Research and Technology Hellas (IACM-FORTH), 70013 Heraklion, Crete, Greece
Author contributions: Kouroumalis E and Notas G contributed to this paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Elias Kouroumalis, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Crete Medical School, PO BOX 2208, 71003 Heraklion, Crete, Greece. kouroum@med.uoc.gr
Telephone: +30-2810-392355 Fax: +30-2810-542085
Received: July 9, 2014
Peer-review started: July 9, 2014
First decision: October 28, 2014
Revised: April 21, 2015
Accepted: May 16, 2015
Article in press: May 18, 2015
Published online: August 6, 2015
Processing time: 394 Days and 21.9 Hours
Peer-review started: July 9, 2014
First decision: October 28, 2014
Revised: April 21, 2015
Accepted: May 16, 2015
Article in press: May 18, 2015
Published online: August 6, 2015
Processing time: 394 Days and 21.9 Hours
Core Tip
Core tip: Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a chronic non-suppurative destructive intrahepatic cholangitis leading to cirrhosis of largely unknown pathophysiology. We examined the epidemiological and geoepidemiological data as well as the pathogenetic aspects of PBC. A novel pathogenetic theory unifying the accumulated clinical information with in vitro and in vivo data is formulated. A review of clinical manifestations and immunological and pathological diagnosis was presented. Treatment modalities, including the multiple mechanisms of action of ursodeoxycholate are discussed.