Etiopathogeny of autoimmune hepatitis and therapeutic perspectives

Abstract

Autoimmune Hepatitis is a multifactorial disease whose main challenge is the development of therapeutic alternatives that prove to be effective and cause less negative effects on the patient's life in the long term than traditional treatment. The objective of this study was to list the pathophysiological mechanisms related to AIH, highlighting the traditional therapy and the therapies that are being investigated. To this end, a literature search was conducted in the MEDLINE, EMBASE and ScienceDirect databases to select scientific articles on the subject. The treatment of choice for AIH consists of the use of corticosteroids in monotherapy or associated with azathioprine, resulting in important side effects. The discovery of new etiopathogenic mechanisms involved in AIH opens paths for expanding the ways to combat the disease, allowing the investigation of innovative perspectives for the treatment of AIH, with therapies directed to specific targets, in order to reduce the side effects associated with the use of traditional long-term therapy.