Primary Biliary Cirrhosis and the Microbiome

Primary biliary cirrhosis is a rather uncommon, slowly progressive, cholestatic liver disease that predominantly affects middle-aged women. Apart from the changes in the gut microbiome that have been described in liver disease in general, little is known of the composition of the microbiome in primary biliary cirrhosis. Nevertheless, epidemiological, clinical, and some experimental evidence points to the possible role of a bacterium (or bacteria) in the initiation of the autoimmune process that leads to the development of this unique clinical phenotype.