Familial occurrence of primary biliary cirrhosis associated with hypergammaglobulinemia in descendants: a family study.

Four sisters out of 6 suffered from primary biliary cirrhosis. Their fathed raised immunoglobulin levels without signs of any disease. Australia antigen was not found in the patients or their relatives. It is suggested that these observations indicate a genetic predisposition to immunologic abnormalities manifesting itself as a familial lack of immunoglobulin control.