Immunologic abnormalities in alcoholic hepatitis.

There are many unanswered questions in the possible autoimmune pathogenesis of alcoholic liver disease. Why do only 15-20% of chronic alcoholic patients develop alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis? What factors make a patient susceptible to immune events in alcoholism? What initiates immune reactivity in susceptible patients? What permits accumulation of alcoholic hyalin in patients with alcoholic h…