Autoimmune Hepatitis: A Review on Disease Pathology and Novel Vitamin D-Associated Disease Progression

Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the liver, identified by loss of immunological tolerance to the antigens of the liver. The factors responsible for initiation and perpetuation of the injury in AIH are not understood completely but are likely to be environmental triggers on the background of genetic variation in immune regulation.Patients respond well to immune-repressing therapies. There are two types discovered within the disease; while the antigens associated with type 1 AIH are yet to be defined, type 2 is mainly induced by anti-CYP2D6 antibody. Both immunologic (T cells and effector cells) and genetic factors are considered to be implicated in the disease progress, and a variety of protein triggers are further associated with disease progression. Ongoing research suggests that vitamin D might play a pivotal role in the disease pathology as its interference with variety proteins in AIH. Further studies are needed to unravel the complex interactions leading to the disease.