The therapeutic handling of autoimmune liver disease is limited because basic mechanistic insights into immunologically mediated pathophysiology have not yet been translated into standard pharmacological treatments. A future expansion of the incidence of autoimmune liver diseases is anticipated because of growing rates of exposure to an increased variety of xenobiotics of dietary, pharmaceutical or environmental origin. This book, the proceedings of an International Falk Workshop held in Konstanz, Germany, January 23-24, 1997, aims to share front-line thinking among immunologists, biochemists, pharmacologists and clinicians in order to better understand the aetiology of this liver disease and its relation to extra-hepatic factors.

This book contains the proceedings of Falk Symposium 167 entitled 'Liver under Constant Attack - From Fat to Viruses', which was held in Mainz, Germany, on 20-21 September 2008. It merges up-to-date viral liver immunology with relevant topics in clinical practice. Sections cover viral hepatitis, immunosuppressive approaches in liver patients, malignant liver diseases, inflammatory liver diseases and complications of liver cirrhosis. Interdisciplinary discussion of new concepts in the treatment of liver diseases makes this book valuable for scientists and clinicians alike.

Autoimmune processes in the liver can cause severe damage and destruction leading to cirrhosis and liver failure. The clinical spectrum of autoimmune liver disease is very wide, and diagnostic difficulties often stand at the beginning of the patient 's medical career. While in autoimmune hepatitis immunosuppressive therapy has long been shown to be life-saving, therapeutic progress is small in primary biliary cirrhosis and questionable in primary sclerosing cholangitis. New approaches to treatment will be needed in the future, but require better understanding of the pathogenesis of the underlying disease process.

This book, the proceedings of Falk Symposium 142 on 'Autoimmune Liver Disease held in Freiburg, Germany, on 12 13 October 2004 (Part I of the Gastroenterology Week Freiburg), describes possible mechanisms of pathogenesis, discusses diagnostic criteria and takes up controversies concerning treatment options. In view of the relatively frequent manifestation of autoimmune hepatitis in childhood in particular, paediatric aspects of autoimmune liver disease, and the role of liver transplantation, are given prominence.