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.