Hepatic inflammation and immunity: A summary of a conference on the function of the immune system within the liver

Although the liver has been the focus of intensive investiga- tion in many different fields of study, this largest visceral organ of the body has received only scant attention from immunologists until recently. Relatively little is known about the mechanisms underlying the immune responses that are generated during infection of the liver and how these lead to hepatic inflammation. Nor is there a good understanding of how the delicate balance between tolerance and immune recognition is maintained in an organ that is continuously perfused with foreign antigens derived from the gut. Nonethe- less, the consequences of inadequate or inappropriate intrahe- patic immune responses figure prominently among the dis- eases treated by hepatologists, in the form of chronic viral infections or autoimmune types of liver disease. The increas- ing importance of liver transplantation as a means of rescue from otherwise fatal cirrhosis also highlights the need for a better understanding of the mechanisms of immune recogni- tion and the activation of immune lymphocytes within the liver. To address these issues in a multidisciplinary fashion, a meeting was convened of clinical hepatologists, cell biolo- gists, virologists, and those interested in transplant biology, as well as immunologists to discuss the fundamental mecha- nisms underlying hepatic inflammation and immunity (Janu- ary 15-17, 1999, Galveston Island, TX).