126 The MELD score did encompass the problematic patients, but it also included many others. Antibodies to asialoglycoprotein receptor had

been associated with histological activity and a propensity for relapse after drug withdrawal,127 and these original observations by Ian McFarlane were substantiated.128 Antibodies to soluble liver antigen had been discovered in two independent laboratories,129,130 and the target antigen had been characterized.131-134 These antibodies were associated with DRB1*0301 and severe disease.135-137 Antibodies to chromatin,138 antibodies to cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP),139 antibodies to double-stranded DNA,67 and antibodies to actin71 were all shown to have prognostic implications (depending selleck products on the assay applied), whereas antibodies to nuclear antigens (histones, centromere) 66,68,70 and antibodies to neutrophilic cytoplasm140 did not. The serological markers of autoimmune hepatitis were studied, either singly or in constellation,141 because of their perceived importance as imprints of pathogenic mechanisms that affected disease severity. Their pursuit also demonstrated the

frustration of searching for a “needle in the haystack”.142 Successful clinical investigation can be fraught with failed hypotheses and attempts to find the “needle.” Importantly, these efforts are selleck inhibitor often manifestations of the vigor and resiliency of the research program. They almost always teach something, and they can enhance the precision of the next search (Table 1). The emerging worldwide MCE公司 experiences with autoimmune hepatitis indicated the diversity of its clinical phenotypes143-148 and genetic predispositions,149-152 and they compelled comparative studies of the disease in different

geographical regions and age groups. The rarity of anti-LKM1 in North American patients with autoimmune hepatitis62; the association of autoimmune hepatitis in South American children with HLA DRB1*1301150,152,153; and the late onset of mild disease in Japan154 were observations that generated new questions about the nature of autoimmune hepatitis and its causes. The “shared motif hypothesis,” which had been espoused in rheumatoid arthritis, was developed as a basis for autoimmune hepatitis in white northern European and North American patients by collaborations with Peter Donaldson and his colleagues.155 The alleles, DRB1*0301 and DRB1*0401, encoded a six-amino-acid motif, L (leucine) L (leucine) E (glutamic acid) Q (glutamine) K (lysine) R (arginine), at positions 67-72 on the DRβ polypeptide chain of the class II MHC molecule that characterized the disease.119 A lysine (K) at position DRβ71 was the key susceptibility factor (Fig. 3). Alleles with similar encoding properties typified the disease in Mexican,156 Japanese,157 and Chinese158 patients in whom the shared motif differed only by the substitution of an arginine (R) for lysine (K) at DRβ71.