Although patients with an autoimmune disease often present with other autoimmune diseases, several reports have indicated that the incidence of coexisting SLE and PBC ranges from 0% to 3.7%. Some patients with SLE and PBC may have a common genetic susceptibility toward developing these diseases; however, the co-occurrence of SLE and PBC is incidental. Whether SLE occurs accidentally with comorbid PBC or has a common immunological basis remains unclear. To date, only a few systematic literature reviews have been conducted on patients with comorbid SLE and PBC. In this study, a literature search and review of patients with comorbid SLE and PBC were conducted.
Author(s) Details:
Toru Shizuma,
Department of Physiology, Tokai University School of Medicine, Japan.