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Updated: May 25, 2026

Bile Duct Ligation in Mice: Induction of Inflammatory Liver Injury and Fibrosis by Obstructive Cholestasis
Published on: February 10, 2015
Fractalkine and other chemokines in primary biliary cirrhosis
Shinji Shimoda1, Carlo Selmi, M Eric Gershwin
1Department of Medicine and Biosystemic Science, Kyushu University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan.
Abstract:
Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is characterized by the autoimmune injury of small intrahepatic bile duct. On this basis, it has been suggested that the targeted biliary epithelial cells (BEC) play an active role in the perpetuation of autoimmunity by attracting immune cells via chemokine secretion. To address this issue, we challenged BEC using multiple toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands as well as autologous liver infiltrating mononuclear cells (LMNC) with subsequent measurement of BEC phenotype and chemokine production and LMNC chemotaxis by quantifying specific chemokines, specially CX3CL1 (fractalkine). We submit the hypothesis that BEC are in fact the innocent victims of the autoimmune injury and that the adaptive immune response is critical in PBC.
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