Immune mechanisms in alcoholic liver disease.
This paper reviews the potential role of immune factors in alcoholic liver diseases. They can either be involved in liver damage and hepatocyte's neurons or in the development of liver fibrosis, or in the sequellae of the disease. Cytokines, as mediators of the relationships between circulating monocytes, Kupffer cells, sinusoidal cells, Ito cells and hepatocytes, seem to play a crucial role in the development of the disease. Studies are now ongoing which try to identify the alcohol-related cofactor which triggers immune activation and the development of liver damage.
Deviere
J
J
Department of Gastroenterology, ULB, Hôpital Erasme, Bruxelles, Belgium.
D016207:Cytokines / Q000096:biosynthesis; D006801:Humans; D007728:Kupffer Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D008099:Liver / Q000166:cytology; D008104:Liver Cirrhosis, Alcoholic / Q000276:immunology; D008108:Liver Diseases, Alcoholic / Q000276:immunology*; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology
D016207:Cytokines