Question about Autoimmune Hepatitis

[AutoimmunetoStars]

I've been tested over and over for AIH. While my LFTs keep indicating autoimmunity (at least, my Gastroenterologist said the fluctuations indicated autoimmunity) but I do not have any of the normal autoantibodies and the one biopsy showed no immune problems (though she said that might've just been because the biopsy wasn't hitting the site of inflammation. )

Is it possible to get AIH with different autoantibodies? Its been nagging me lately- I know I do have autoantibodies as I had Ulcerative Colitis and I heard that p-anca antibodies can also attack the liver, but I wasn't sure. I know I do have either ANCA or p-ANCA antibodies, I was wondering if I should even ask to get tested since, I figure, if I don't have UC anymore, the antibodies shouldn't be continuously produced...

[AyrshireK]

Ulcertative colitis often goes hand in hand with the auto-immune liver disease called PSC (Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis). Might be worth a read up. It is possible to have a biopsy which comes back inconclusive.

If a gastroenterologist isn't getting to the root of any liver problem it might be worth asking for referral to a hepatologist.

[AutoimmunetoStars in reply to AyrshireK]

That's the first thing they checked. A year ago my LFTs were wonky and she did a biopsy, sent it to Hopkins. Theres a chance that it could be PSC, but right now she doesn't necessarily believe its that because the changes on the biopsy were too small to tell (they couldn't say that there wasn't Small duct PSC) the only thing they knew was that there were no WBCs.

Its weird, but they've been pushing for AIH (along with other weird tests, some involving serum electrophoresis)