Liver diseases are a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The major clinical
problem is the frequent development of liver cirrhosis or liver cancer related to chronic
hepatitis. A broad variety of conditions may cause chronic hepatitis, including hepatitis virus
infection [1, 2], toxic insult [3, 4] or autoimmunity [5, 6]. Hepatitis, acute or chronic, is
associated with liver injury, which is largely mediated by immune effector mechanisms. In
acute hepatitis, immune-mediated liver injury is usually compensated by adequate repair …