Mixed connective tissue disease associated with autoimmune hepatitis and thyroiditis

Autoimmune hepatitis as a presenting manifestation of mixed connective tissue disease in a child. Case report and review of the literature

BACKGROUND

Liver disease is rare in the course of mixed connective tissue disease. Most commonly liver steatosis or elevated liver function tests are reported and only a few cases of mixed connective tissue disease associated with autoimmune hepatitis were described.

CASE PRESENTATION

We report a case of an 11-year old boy with hepatitis on admission to the hospital and symptoms and signs of mixed connective tissue disease. Autoimmune hepatitis has been confirmed by liver biopsy.

CONCLUSION

To the best of our knowledge this is the youngest patient with autoimmune hepatitis as a presenting manifestation of mixed connective tissue disease.

Efficacy, safety and clinical pharmacology of macitentan in comparison to other endothelin receptor antagonists in the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension

INTRODUCTION

Macitentan is a novel dual endothelin receptor antagonist (ERA) showing sustained receptor occupancy. In vitro and in vivo animal studies have demonstrated its potency in antagonizing endothelin-induced disorders. A large morbidity/mortality study in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) taking macitentan has been completed recently.

AREAS COVERED

This drug evaluation reviews the efficacy, safety and clinical pharmacology of macitentan in the treatment of PAH.

EXPERT OPINION

The large Phase III study (SERAPHIN) tested macitentan in more than 700 PAH patients and has provided unique long-term outcome data for this ERA, not available for other members of this class. The effect on a composite clinically relevant morbidity/mortality end point was highly significant at a 10 mg/day dose. The safety profile of macitentan appears to be superior with respect to hepatic safety and edema/fluid retention than bosentan and ambrisentan, respectively, and is similar when considering decrease in hemoglobin concentration. The drug has a low propensity for drug-drug interactions and has one circulating pharmacologically active metabolite. The pharmacokinetics of macitentan in patients with renal or hepatic impairment does not require dose adjustments. Based on its characteristics, macitentan is an important addition to the therapeutic armamentarium in the long-term treatment of PAH. Its potential use in other disorders is under investigation.

Autoimmune hepatitis

Autoimmune hepatitis was one of the first liver diseases for which an effective treatment was developed and the benefit proven by randomized controlled trials. Nonetheless, both the diagnosis and the treatment of autoimmune hepatitis remain full of challenges. The clinical spectrum is very wide, ranging from subclinical non-progressive disease to fulminant hepatic failure. Diagnostic criteria based on elevation of IgG, demonstration of characteristic autoantibodies, and histological features of hepatitis in the absence of viral disease are very helpful. However, in some patients, diagnosis remains a clinical challenge. Adequately dosed steroids are the mainstay of remission induction treatment, while remission maintenance is best achieved by azathioprine. Therapeutic alternatives are required in a small group of patients responding insufficiently to these drugs or intolerant to their side effects.

Concurrent autoimmune diseases in patients with autoimmune hepatitis

BACKGROUND

Although the pathomechanisms of autoimmune diseases in various organs remain unresolved, an accumulation of autoimmune diseases in individual patients has been observed. An overlap of autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) and primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) or primary sclerosing cirrhosis has been well documented. However, the overlap of autoimmune diseases other than PBC or PSC has not yet been investigated in a large cohort.

GOAL

The goal of our analysis was to investigate the incidence of concurrent autoimmune diseases in patients with AIH.

STUDY

We analyzed our cohort of 278 patients with AIH for concurrent autoimmune diseases.

RESULTS

A total of 111 patients (40%) were diagnosed with additional autoimmune diseases. Besides overlap syndromes for PBC and PSC, autoimmune thyroiditis was the most common concurrent disease (28 patients, 10%). Other concurrent autoimmune diseases comprised vitiligo (5 patients), rheumatoid arthritis (5 patients), Sjogren syndrome (4 patients), ulcerative colitis (4 patients), conjunctivitis (4 patients), celiac disease (3 patients), systemic lupus erythematodes (2 patients), type I diabetes (2 patients), multiple sclerosis (2 patients), polymyalgia rheumatica (2 patients), and urticaria (2 patients). One patient each was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, autoimmune gastritis, collagenous colitis, hypophysitis, and sarcoidosis. Investigating 100 patients with polyglandular syndrome and autoimmune thyroid disease for the occurrence of autoantibodies associated with AIH, we identified AIH-associated antibodies only in 1 patient.

CONCLUSIONS

Concurrent autoimmune diseases are common in patients with AIH and mirror the full range of known autoimmune diseases. Therefore, an extended diagnostic screening for accumulating autoimmune diseases, especially autoimmune thyroiditis, seems reasonable in patients with AIH.

The development of connective tissue diseases in patients with autoimmune hepatitis: a case series

OBJECTIVES

To study the prevalence of connective tissue diseases (CTD) in patients with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH).

METHODS

We identified 11 cases of AIH over the past 7 years at our institution, through a systematic chart review of patients with this diagnosis. Their charts were reviewed for the development of systemic CTD.

RESULTS

Three of the 11 patients with a definitive diagnosis of AIH developed systemic CTD. All were white: 2 women and 1 man, with an age range of 33 to 62 years, and with disease duration of 1 to 7 years. One patient developed systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with vasculitis and peripheral neuropathy. The second developed limited scleroderma and the third developed undifferentiated connective tissue disease (UCTD) and interstitial lung disease. There appear to be shared susceptibility alleles for AIH and CTD in addition to the shared positive autoantibodies.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with AIH may be at increased risk for developing systemic CTD. Conversely, a review of the literature reveals that patients with systemic CTD may be at increased risk of developing AIH. Patients with either AIH or CTD should be monitored for further development of concurrent autoimmune diseases.

[Autoimmune chronic active hepatitis: anatomoclinic's study of 50 patients]

PURPOSE

To analyse anatomoclinic and evolutive aspects of autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) through 50 observations collected in two Internal Medicine departments in Algiers from 1998 to 2002 and to make a review of the literature.

METHODS

The study is prospective. The diagnosis of autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is established according to the recommendations of the score of the International Autoimmune Hepatitis Group (1991) or/and hepatitic damage confirmed by histology.

RESULTS

Fifty patients were studied: (32 women-18 men) and the mean age was 38 years (17 to 73). Autoimmune extra-hepatitic manifestations were associated in 26%. The AIH type 1 has been noted in 58%. AIH were type 2 in only 6%. In 22% of the cases AIH were sero-negative and the others AIH represented 14% were classed as overlap-syndrome (5 cases of primary biliary cirrhosis and 2 cases of primary sclerosing cholangitis hepatitis overlap syndrome). The first liver biopsy tissue showed strong necrotic-inflammatory activity in 56% and cirrhosis was identified in 19 patients (38%). The treatment (azathioprine and corticosteroid) was prescribed in 37 patients (74%) in active chronic hepatitis or in compensed cirrhosis.

FOLLOW-UP

28% of the patients died (9-36 months) because cirrhosis's complications or because complications of hepatocarcinoma (3 cases).

CONCLUSION

The diagnosis of AIH must be established early for each patient with chronic liver disease particularly is those are supposed as a crypto genetic hepatitis. The prognosis is compromised by delayed diagnosis and the mortality in middle following up is high.