Autoimmune Hepatitis

This form of hepatitis is an autoimmune disease. The body’s immune system cannot tell the difference between healthy body tissue and harmful, outside substances. The result is an immune response that destroys normal body tissues.

Liver inflammation, or hepatitis, may occur along with other autoimmune diseases. These include:

• Graves disease
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Scleroderma
• Sjögren syndrome
• Systemic lupus erythematosus
• Thyroiditis
• Type 1 diabetes
• Ulcerative colitis

Autoimmune hepatitis may occur in family members of people with autoimmune diseases. There may be a genetic cause.

This disease is most common in girls and women.

Symptoms may include:

• Fatigue
• General discomfort, uneasiness, or ill feeling (malaise)
• Itching
• Loss of appetite
• Nausea or vomiting
• Joint pain
• Pale or clay-colored stools
• Dark urine
• Abdominal distention

Absence of menstruation (amenorrhea) may also be a symptom.

Tests for autoimmune hepatitis include the following blood tests:

• Liver function tests.
• Anti-liver kidney microsome type 1 antibody (anti LKM-1).
• Anti-nuclear antibody (ANA).
• Anti-smooth muscle antibody (SMA).
• Serum IgG.
• Liver biopsy to look for long-term hepatitis.
• You may also have an ultrasound of your liver.

You may need prednisone or other corticosteroid medicines to help reduce the inflammation. Azathioprine and 6-mercaptopurine are medicines used to treat other autoimmune disorders. They have also been shown to help people with autoimmune hepatitis. Other medicines are occasionally used. The goal of treatment is to put the disease into remission, and then keep it into remission.

Some people may need a liver transplant.

Contact your health care provider if you notice symptoms of autoimmune hepatitis.

Lupoid hepatitis; Chronic active hepatitis