Accordingly, the liver
contains specialized lymphoid subpopulations acting as antigen-presenting cells. Growing evidences
show that the liver is also associated with obesity-associated diseases because of its immune-related
capacity to sense metabolic stress induced by nutritional surplus. Finally, the liver produces a pletora
of neo-antigens being the primary metabolic organ of the body. Common immune mechanisms play a
key pathogenetic role in most of acute and chronic liver diseases and in the rejection of liver allografts.
Any perturbations of liver-related immune functions have important clinical implications. This issue of
the Journal of Autoimmunity is focused on the more recent advances in our knowledge related to the loss
of liver tolerance, a paradox for a tolerogenic organ, that leads to overactivation of the innate and
adaptive immune response and the development of autoimmune liver diseases, such as autoimmune
hepatitis, primary biliary cirrhosis, and primary sclerosing cholangitis. The invited expert review articles
capture the underlying immunomolecular mechanisms of the development and progression of autoimmune
liver diseases, the novel field of the immune-related “liver-gut” axis influences to the development
of liver autoimmunity, the predominant role of genetic factors, and the increasingly effective
immuno-therapeutic possibilities.