| [ Summary ] |
Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a chronic liver disease of unknown etiology in which autoimmune mediated reactivities against hepatocytes presumably play a crucial role. While middle‒aged women have the highest risk for developing AIH, patients in childhood or adolescence are not uncommon. Elevation of transaminases, detectable autoantibodies such as anti‒nuclear antibodies (ANA) or anti‒smooth muscle antibodies (ASMA), elevation of serum IgG levels, and interface hepatitis or plasma cell infiltration in liver histology are characteristic features of AIH. However, there is no identified biomarker specific for the diagnosis of AIH and therefore criteria consisting of several items are used for diagnosis. About 10 % of AIH cases may develop as acute‒onset hepatitis and it could be extremely difficult to make a diagnosis in such cases since these cases frequently lack typical features of AIH, such as ANA positivity or IgG elevation. |