Is extrahepatic biliary atresia related to viral infections?

Extrahepatic biliary atresia is characterized by obliteration or absence of the extrahepatic bile ducts in very young infants and ultimately lead to liver cirrhosis and failure. The cause of this disease is currently unknown. There are several hypotheses for the development of extrahepatic biliary atresia. Failure of development or canalization of extrahepatic biliary tree is the unconfirmed old theory. Perinatal insults like viral infections have been suspected as possible etiologies including reovirus type 3, cytomegalovirus and rotavirus, although none of them has been concluded as playing a significant role in the pathogenesis of this disease. By using cultured murine extrahepatic biliary epithelial cell, a virally-induced, immune mediated extrahepatic biliary epithelial cell injury has been demonstrated in our recent work, which may be implicated in the pathogenesis of extrahepatic biliary atresia. Further studies are needed to develop a curative treatment for this serious disorder in the future.