Fraser was born with the congenital liver defect biliary atresia, and when he was just six- weeks-old he underwent an operation to correct the problem.
Although a surgical procedure is successful in many infants, three of every four children who have biliary atresia need a liver transplant before the age of 20.
The researchers discovered that in the early phases of biliary atresia, genes that trigger inflammation are activated, and genes that produce chemicals to fight infection are suppressed.
The researchers found that while two-thirds of infants with biliary atresia produced a cytokine called gamma-interferon, the protein was not found in any of the samples of infants with cholestasis.