What is autoimmune liver disease?

  Autoimmune hepatitis: Autoimmune hepatitis is most common in women, with a male to female ratio of 1:4, with two peak ages of onset between 10 and 30 years and over 40 years.  The majority of patients present with chronic hepatitis, while about 40% of patients have acute hepatitis and occasionally fulminant liver failure as the main manifestation. The disease can have manifestations of various autoimmune diseases (e.g., arthritis and arthropathy) and has therefore been called “lupus hepatitis”.  Autoimmune liver disease is a group of diseases caused by the body’s immune system attacking its own liver tissue. Common clinical autoimmune liver diseases include autoimmune hepatitis, primary biliary cirrhosis and primary sclerosing cholangitis. In the past, these diseases were considered rare in our country, but in recent years, due to the increasing understanding of these diseases and the introduction and improvement of relevant immunological screening methods, we have seen an increasing number of patients with autoimmune liver diseases in clinical practice. The following is a brief introduction to the progress of domestic and international treatment regarding this group of diseases.