Although a surgical procedure is successful in many infants, three of every four children who have biliaryatresia need a liver transplant before the age of 20.
The researchers discovered that in the early phases of biliaryatresia, 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 biliaryatresia produced a cytokine called gamma-interferon, the protein was not found in any of the samples of infants with cholestasis.