Increase of chemokine interferon‐inducible protein‐10 (IP‐10) in the serum of patients with autoimmune liver diseases and increase of its mRNA expression in hepatocytes

To clarify the role of IP‐10 in autoimmune liver diseases, we studied the serum levels of IP‐10 in 14 patients with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH), 23 patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), and 65 patients with chronic viral hepatitis (20 type B and 45 type C). The hepatic expression of IP‐10 mRNA and the correlation between the serum levels of IP‐10 and clinical parameters were also evaluated. In addition to 20 healthy controls, 16 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients were included as an extrahepatic inflammatory disease. The serum level of IP‐10 was significantly (P