Autoimmune hepatitis is a chronic inflammatory, multisystem disease in which the body attacks its own liver cells. There are two known forms of this chronic, long-lasting disease. Type 1, being the most common making up eighty percent of autoimmune hepatitis cases, affects mostly young women and often goes hand in hand with other autoimmune diseases. Forty percent of Type 1 AIH cases are diagnosed before the age of 18.Type 2 is less common affecting women ages 2 to 14. It is shown in many studies that patients with Type 2 present a more severe course of autoimmune hepatitis and it is also more likely to resist treatment with about eighty percent of cases diagnosed before the patients age of 18. Although the disease is more common in females,
…show more content…
Scientists believe several factors such as environmental triggers,viral infections, genetics, and drugs might have an influence on the triggers of autoimmunity. Certain drugs such as methyldopa, nitrofurantoin, and minocycline, among the few, can produce an illness that mimics autoimmune hepatitis. Most cases of this instance improve when the drug is stopped, but in rare cases autoimmune hepatitis may still be seen long after drug withdrawal. The human leukocyte antigen locus on chromosome 6 is the strongest connection they have between AIH and the human genes. Although no single gene has been identified as the culprit. As stated by Béland, in the Influence of genes, sex, age and environment on the onset of autoimmune hepatitis, environmental factors are believed to start the autoimmune response from the body by four different means, “(1) non-specific activation of resting T cells; (2) modification or release of sequestered proteins; (3) cross-reactivity between virus and self protein; and (4) modulation of gene expression.”
Based on the Caucasian population of Europe and North America, it is estimated that fifty to two hundred cases per million exist with a high frequency of HLA-DR3 and HLA-DR4 markers …show more content…
At the age of 14, I was experiencing frequent fatigue, jaundice, loss of appetite, mental confusion, and my liver was very enlarged. My blood work was coming back with high ALT and AST levels and high bilirubin but my pediatrician didn't know what was going on with me. I was scheduled for a liver biopsy to confirm the diagnosis when I took a turn for the worse. I was in complete liver failure in September of 2008. I was listed for a liver transplant for two weeks before I received the gift of life. At the time I was diagnosed, my Gastroenterologists and transplant team knew of no link between the drug minocycline and autoimmune hepatitis . Now there is proven evidence of an autoimmune like syndrome produced by minocycline. I was on Solodyn, a brand name drug of minocycline for 4 months. By the time we figured out that I needed to stop the acne medication it was too late. It had created irreversible liver damage. I could have had other factors that contributed to my diagnosis but as of now there is no new information on the triggers of
Scientists believe several factors such as environmental triggers,viral infections, genetics, and drugs might have an influence on the triggers of autoimmunity. Certain drugs such as methyldopa, nitrofurantoin, and minocycline, among the few, can produce an illness that mimics autoimmune hepatitis. Most cases of this instance improve when the drug is stopped, but in rare cases autoimmune hepatitis may still be seen long after drug withdrawal. The human leukocyte antigen locus on chromosome 6 is the strongest connection they have between AIH and the human genes. Although no single gene has been identified as the culprit. As stated by Béland, in the Influence of genes, sex, age and environment on the onset of autoimmune hepatitis, environmental factors are believed to start the autoimmune response from the body by four different means, “(1) non-specific activation of resting T cells; (2) modification or release of sequestered proteins; (3) cross-reactivity between virus and self protein; and (4) modulation of gene expression.”
Based on the Caucasian population of Europe and North America, it is estimated that fifty to two hundred cases per million exist with a high frequency of HLA-DR3 and HLA-DR4 markers …show more content…
At the age of 14, I was experiencing frequent fatigue, jaundice, loss of appetite, mental confusion, and my liver was very enlarged. My blood work was coming back with high ALT and AST levels and high bilirubin but my pediatrician didn't know what was going on with me. I was scheduled for a liver biopsy to confirm the diagnosis when I took a turn for the worse. I was in complete liver failure in September of 2008. I was listed for a liver transplant for two weeks before I received the gift of life. At the time I was diagnosed, my Gastroenterologists and transplant team knew of no link between the drug minocycline and autoimmune hepatitis . Now there is proven evidence of an autoimmune like syndrome produced by minocycline. I was on Solodyn, a brand name drug of minocycline for 4 months. By the time we figured out that I needed to stop the acne medication it was too late. It had created irreversible liver damage. I could have had other factors that contributed to my diagnosis but as of now there is no new information on the triggers of