The etiology of many forms of liver disease is largely unknown. Recent research has identified certain immunogenetic factors which may play a role in the progression of alcoholic cirrhosis as well as autoimmune forms of cirrhosis. In this study we examined the role of familial alcoholism and HLA status in determining age of liver disease onset. Patients with biopsy-proven nonalcoholic autoimmune cirrhosis and having a history of familial alcoholism experience an earlier age of onset of liver disease than patients without a family history of alcoholism. The same result was true for patients with alcoholic liver disease. This effect may be more prominent in females. Subjects with HLA B-8 also had a younger age of onset of nonalcoholic autoimmune liver disease. The presence of a family history of alcoholism in conjunction with the presence of HLA B-8 and DR-3 also was related to an earlier age of disease onset. These findings suggest that the susceptibility to develop alcoholism and nonalcoholic autoimmune liver disease may be transmitted conjointly and point to potential fruitful areas of research for identifying individuals at risk for developing cirrhosis as well as detecting genetic markers for alcoholism.