Autoimmune liver disease is a special type of chronic liver disease caused by immune dysfunction in the body, including autoimmune hepatitis, primary biliary cholangitis, primary sclerosing cholangitis, and overlapping so-called overlapping syndromes. Different types of autoimmune liver diseases have different demographic characteristics, clinical manifestations, and pathological changes of the liver. The specific pathogenesis of the disease is unknown, and patients are often accompanied by other autoimmune diseases, such as diabetes and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. The disease occurs throughout the world and its incidence is relatively high in European and American countries.
What about autoimmune liver disease?
The so-called “autoimmune function” means that the human body produces a self-protecting protein-based immune substance called an “antibody” in order to resist the invasion of pathogenic microorganisms. This kind of antibody that specifically deals with pathogenic microorganisms has a special recognition function. When the pathogenic microorganisms invade again, specific antibodies immediately rush up to neutralize it and make the pathogenic microorganisms immediately lose their pathogenicity. This is the magical autoimmune function.
However, just as humans sometimes make mistakes, this kind of antibody with memory function also under certain circumstances will make mistakes in recognition, and mistake some tissues in the body as antigens that are harmful to the body to attack. If the target of this attack due to self-identification errors is liver cells, it will cause various liver function damages, such as increased transaminase and elevated serum bilirubin. This type of liver damage is not caused by the hepatitis virus, but is caused by a disorder in the autoimmune system. It is medically called autoimmune hepatitis.
Autoimmune hepatitis can occur at all ages. The proportion of women in women is almost four times that of men. From the onset of the disease, there are two peaks of illness at the age of 10 to 30 and around 40. Most of the symptoms of autoimmune hepatitis gradually appear, the performance is different, and some of them can also be acute. Symptoms commonly seen are fatigue, epigastric discomfort, pruritus, loss of appetite, liver and spleen enlargement, jaundice, spider moles, etc., and advanced patients can develop cirrhosis or hepatic encephalopathy. Individual cases can progress to liver cancer .
The liver damage caused by this disease is caused by the combined action of cellular immunity and humoral immunity. It belongs to chronic inflammation of the liver, accompanied by hyperimmunoglobulinemia, and autoantibodies appear. Debris necrosis occurs in the area around the liver lobules.
How is autoimmune liver disease treated? The principle of treatment of autoimmune hepatitis is mainly to suppress the abnormal autoimmune response. Second, while attacking liver cells, because the immune cells are hacked and killed, other organs are also suffering from strains and cannot escape their doom, so they are suppressing the autoimmune response. At the same time, pay attention to the correlation between the liver and other internal organs, “emergency cures its symptoms, and slow cures its roots”. The prescriptions are chosen to achieve both the specimens and the primary and secondary, restore liver function, prevent the progress of liver damage, regulate and enhance The body’s immune function. From the root
The purpose of treating autoimmune liver disease is achieved.
Although the disease is difficult to prevent, it is manageable, so early detection and treatment are more important. But for patients with unexplained recurrent liver dysfunction, especially young women, regular monitoring of autoantibodies and liver biopsy pathology can help early diagnosis and early treatment of autoimmune hepatitis, thereby improving patient survival and quality of life.
