Einar Bjo rnsson, 1,2 Jayant Talwalkar, 2 Sombat Treeprasertsuk, 2 Patrick S. Kamath, 2 Naoki Takahashi, 3 Schuyler Sanderson, 4 Matthias Neuhauser, 2 and Keith Lindor 2 Drug-induced autoimmune hepatitis (DIAIH) has been reported to be caused by several drugs. There is a lack of data comparing these patients with other patients with autoim- mune hepatitis (AIH). A search was performed using the Mayo Clinic diagnostic medical index for AIH patients and DIAIH patients identied over 10 years. Individuals with over- lap syndromes and decompensated liver disease were excluded. Overall, 261 patients (204 females, median age 52) were identied, and 24 (9.2%) were DIAIH cases with a median age of 53 (interquartile range, 24-61). Two drugs, nitrofurantoin (n 5 11) and minocycline (n 5 11), were the main causes. A similar proportion of DIAIH patients had positive antinuclear antibodies (83% versus 70%) and smooth muscle antibodies (50% versus 45%) as compared with AIH patients. Histological grade and stage were similar in patients with DIAIH versus AIH; however, none of the DIAIH patients had cirrhosis at baseline; this was present in 20% of matched AIH cases. Liver imaging was normal in all minocycline cases. Eight of 11 (73%) nitrofurantoin patients had abnormalities on hepatic imaging (mainly liver atrophy), a nding seen in only 8 of 33 (24%) of a random sample of the rest of the AIH group (P 5 0.0089). Corticosteroid responsiveness was similar in DIAIH and the AIH patients. Discontinuation of immunosuppression was tried and suc- cessful in 14 DIAIH cases, with no relapses (0%), whereas 65% of the AIH patients had a relapse after discontinuation of immunosuppression (P < 0.0001). Conclusion: A signi- cant proportion of patients with AIH have drug-induced AIH, mainly because of nitrofur- antoin and minocycline. These two groups have similar clinical and histological patterns. However, DIAIH patients do not seem to require long-term immunosuppressive therapy. (HEPATOLOGY 2010;51:2040-2048) D rug-induced immune-mediated liver injury is an adverse immune response against proteins within the liver that can lead to a syndrome of autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). 1,2 Reactive metabo- lites created through hepatic metabolism of some drugs have been shown to bind to cellular proteins such as cytochrome P450. These can then be recognized by the immune system as neoantigens. 3,4 The underlying mechanisms have been elucidated for some drugs able to induce AIH but not currently in use, such as dihy- dralazine 5,6 and tienilic acid. 7 Among drugs still widely used, drug-induced AIH (DIAIH) has been well docu- mented for nitrofurantoin, 8,9 which is widely pre- scribed for urinary tract infections, and minocycline, a treatment of acne. 10,11 However, available data on drug-induced AIH consist mainly of case reports and a few very small case series. 11-13 Autoimmune hepatitis induced by nitrofurantoin was reported in a series of ve patients from the 1970s in the United States 12 and six patients from the Netherlands from the 1980s. 9 These small case series had very limited fol- low-up, and the long-term prognosis of patients with nitrofurantoin-induced AIH remains uncertain. Mino- cycline-induced hepatitis is associated with the appear- ance of antinuclear antibodies, and smooth-muscle antibodies, elevated gamma globulin levels, and histo- logical features identical to those observed in AIH. 11,14-16 Information about need for long-term Abbreviations: AIH, autoimmune hepatitis; DIAIH, drug-induced autoimmune hepatitis; IgG, immunoglobulin G. From the 1 Department of Internal Medicine, Section of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Landspitali University Hospital, Reykjavik, Iceland; 2 Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Mayo Clinic Rochester, Rochester, MN; 3 Department of Radiology; and 4 Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic Rochester, Rochester, MN. Received October 2, 2009; accepted January 11, 2010. Address reprint requests to: Einar Bjornsson, Landspitali University Hospital, Hringbraut, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland. E-mail: [email protected]; fax: 354-543-4834. Copyright VC 2010 by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/hep.23588 Potential conict of interest: Nothing to report. 2040 immunosuppression in these patients is unclear, and none of these reports have described long-term con- sequences for liver damage. We aimed to assess the proportion of drug-induced AIH among consecutive well-characterized patients with AIH. Furthermore, we sought to compare the clinical, biochemical, and histological characteristics of these two groups of AIH patients. Lastly, we wanted to investigate the prognosis in terms of liver-related mortality and compare the results of drug withdrawal in these patients. Patients and Methods We performed a search in the diagnostic medical index at the Mayo Clinic for the diagnosis AIH in the period 1997 to 2007. The search is based on the pres- ence of AIH in the text, and the search will retrieve all patients that have AIH mentioned in the medical charts, such as the primary diagnosis, differential diag- nosis, family history of AIH, and liver transplantation for AIH. By this method we identied 1536 patients. Only patients with available clinical and biochemical components of the new simplied criteria at baseline were included. 17 Thus, information on the presence of autoantibodies, immunoglobulin G (IgG) or gamma- globulins, viral serologies, and a liver biopsy were obtained before initiation of immunosuppressive ther- apy. Patients seen at the Mayo Clinic only for a second opinion, but who were diagnosed earlier and who had already started treatment, were excluded. Also, patients undergoing transplants for AIH and patients with decompensated liver disease at presentation were excluded as well as pediatric cases (younger than 16 years of age). The reason for excluding patients with liver failure or those who required transplantation was because the diagnosis of AIH is more uncertain in these conditions. Some features of AIH such as auto- antibodies can be present in patients with liver failure and decompensated liver disease, probably secondary to the chronic liver injury. Furthermore, most patients with decompensated liver disease had been started on treatment for AIH elsewhere, and therefore there was often a lack of important biochemical parameters such as gammaglobulins or IgG and autoantibodies, making a diagnostic score almost impossible. Furthermore, patients with a diagnosis of primary biliary cirrhosis and primary sclerosing cholangitis were excluded, as were patients with clinical suspicion of overlap syndromes (AIH/primary biliary cirrhosis and AIH/primary sclerosing cholangitis). A retrospective review was performed on patients fullling the inclusion criteria. The following variables were obtained by the chart review: age, sex, date of liver biopsy, titers of antinuclear antibodies, smooth muscle antibodies, liver kidney microsomal, antimito- chondrial antibodies, antinuclear cytoplasmic antibod- ies, IgG, gammaglobulins, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, total bilirubin, albumin, and international normalized ratio at baseline. Furthermore, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, total bilirubin, albumin, international normalized ratio, IgG, gamma globulins at 1 to 2 weeks, 2 months, 6 months, 1 year, and at last follow-up after start of immunosuppressive treatment were recorded. The presence of a suspicion of drug etiology in triggering the AIH was recorded. The liver biopsy results were analyzed, and histology compared between the DIAH patients and age (65 years of age at the diagnosis of AIH) and sex-matched patients (n 24) randomly chosen from the rest of the AIH patients. Sex was bal- anced, and no signicant age difference was found at diagnosis. Furthermore, patients with nitrofurantoin- induced and minocycline-induced AIH were com- pared. All biopsy materials were reviewed by a single liver pathologist (S.O.S.), blinded to the clinical con- text of the biopsy as well as the patients outcomes. The overall inammatory activity (grade) of the whole specimen, portal, and interface inammation as well as brosis (stage) were recorded from the available materials on a scale from 0 to 4 and ana- lyzed according to Batts and Ludwig. 18 Interface hep- atitis was graded as none, minimal, mild, moderate, and severe interface hepatitis and brosis stage as no brosis, to portal, periportal, bridging, and cirrhosis. Additionally, perivenular (zone 3) necrosis and con- uent necrosis were evaluated in the biopsy materials review. The new simplied score was calculated. Histologi- cal features were considered typical, compatible, or atypical according to Hennes et al. 17 The biopsy was considered typical if the biopsy demonstrated interface hepatitis with a lymphoplasmacytic inltrate extending from the portal areas into the lobular parenchyma with associated rosette formation. The biopsy was con- sidered compatible if the biopsy revealed features of chronic hepatitis without all of the typical features listed. Additionally, the designation of atypical was applied if the biopsy demonstrated distinct features of different diagnosis. In medical records with lack of in- formation about the IgG levels, we used the gamma- globulin level for calculation. HEPATOLOGY, Vol. 51, No. 6, 2010 BJO
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Because obvious imaging abnormalities were seen in most of the nitrofurantoin cases (none in the mino- cycline cases), we compared the appearance of the liver on imaging between these patients and other AIH patients. We matched three AIH patients for sex and age (65 years of age) with each nitrofurantoin patient (33 versus 11) for this purpose and analyzed results of imaging between the two groups. The type of immunosuppressive treatment and its duration was recorded. Information on whether immu- nosuppressive therapy was discontinued during follow- up and the results of the discontinuation were obtained. Discontinuation was considered successful if no relapse was observed biochemically or histologically in patients with at least 12 months of follow-up. Bio- chemical remission was dened as alanine aminotrans- ferase and aspartate aminotransferase values that were less than 1.5 times the upper limit of normal. The date of last follow-up was recorded, and the duration of follow-up was calculated. Complications of liver dis- ease, clinical cirrhosis, ascites, esophageal or gastric varices, need for liver transplantation, and death were obtained. Response to therapy at 1 to 2 weeks and 2, 6, and 12 months as well as at last follow-up was determined. Statistical Analysis. Continuous variables are pre- sented as medians and interquartile range. Dichoto- mous variables were compared using the Fischer exact test, and the Mann-Whitney test was used for continu- ous variables. All tests were two-tailed and conducted at a 5% level of signicance. Results General Characteristics of the Patients. A total of 261 well-characterized AIH cases were identied with the available clinical, laboratory, and histological data required for diagnosis according to the new simplied criteria. Overall, 560 cases were excluded because of an earlier diagnosis of AIH outside the Mayo Clinic, and many of these patients were on treatment when rst seen at the Mayo Clinic. Decompensated liver dis- ease at presentation was found in 125 patients, and 70 had undergone transplantation for AIH, 57 had not undergone a liver biopsy, 39 did not have available data on autoantibodies or gamma globulins, three had only family history of AIH, and 256 did not have AIH as their nal diagnosis. Other cases excluded were for suspicion of overlap syndromes with primary bili- ary cirrhosis and primary sclerosing cholangitis (n 97) and pediatric cases (n 68). Drugs were suspected to have induced the AIH in 24 of 261 (9.2%) cases: minocycline (n 11), nitro- furantoin (n 11), and cephalexin and Prometrium, in one case each. These were suspected on clinical grounds because of current use of these drugs at the time of diagnosis. None of the patients continued with the drugs past the date of presentation, and none were rechallenged. The demographic and biochemical data in the study cohort of the 24 DIAIH patients and the 237 other AIH patients is demonstrated in Table 1. The median follow-up of the DIAIH patients was 36 months (13-77); and in the other AIH patients, 36 months (15-79) (P NS). The DIAIH patients were referral patients from states other than Minnesota in 19 of 24 (79%) and in 160 of 237 (68%) in the other AIH patients (P NS). A similar proportion of patients had antinuclear antibodies and smooth muscle antibody seropositivity among the two groups (Table 1). Trial of discontinua- tion of immunosuppression was only tried in 14 of 24 (58%) of the DIAIH patients. A signicantly higher proportion of patients with DIAIH were able to dis- continue their immunosuppressive therapy compared with other AIH patients (100% versus 35%) (P < 0.0001) (Table 1) and showed no relapse at 36 (12-58) months in the DIAIH patients. In general, liver tests at presentation were higher and jaundice more common in the DIAIH group, but the differences were not signicantly different (Table 1). Patients with nitrofurantoin-induced and minocycline- induced AIH are shown in Table 2. Histology. A very similar proportion of the DIAIH and the rest of the AIH group had typical and com- patible histology according to the histological charac- terization presented by Hennes et al. 17 (Table 3). None of the DIAIH patients had atypical histology, and only one patient from the rest of the AIH group had atypical histology. This patient fullled diagnostic criteria for AIH, although histology was similar to histology observed in primary biliary cirrhosis. The severity of inammation and brosis was not signi- cantly different between the two groups (Table 3). There was a tendency toward a higher stage score in the AIH than in the DIAIH group, but the differ- ence was not signicant (Table 3). However, cirrhosis was not present in any of the DIAH patients, whereas cirrhosis was found among 5 of 24 (20.8%) in the rest of the AIH patients (P 0.049). When divided into none and mild versus moderate and severe activity in terms of grade, portal inammatory 2042 BJO
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activity, interface, and portal hepatitis in DIAH versus AIH, no signicant differences were found (data not shown). A total of six patients with DIAIH had a follow-up liver biopsy, and all had either very mild or no inammatory activity in the follow-up biopsy. Comparison between the histological features in the Table 2. Comparison of the Demographics, Seropositivity, AIH Score, Histology, Treatment and Liver Tests at Presentation in Patients with Nitrofurantoin-Induced and Minocycline-Induced AIH Nitrofurantoin AIH (n 5 11) Minocycline AIH (n 5 11) P value Age 61 (54-66) 24 (18-38) 0.0019 Sex, females (%) 11 (100%) 10 (91%) NS Duration of therapy (months) 24 (8-36) 12 (9-36) NS ANA positive (%) 8/11 (73%) 10/11 (91%) NS SMA positive (%) 6/11 (55%) 5/11 (45%) NS Both ANA and SMA (%) 4/11 (36%) 4/11 (36%) NS Seronegative (%) 1/11 (9%) 0/11 (0%) NS Simplied AIH score: Probable or denite (%) 7/9 (78%) 10/10 (100%) NS Compatible histology (%) 6/11 (55%) 2/11 (18%) NS Typical histology (%) 5/11 (45%) 9/11 (82%) NS Immunosuppressive therapy (%) 11/11 (100%) 9/11 (82%) NS Steroids and azathioprine (%) 3/11 (27%) 8/9 (89%) 0.0098 Steroids alone (%) 8/11 (73%) 1/11 (11%) 0.0098 Trial of discontinuation successful (%) 9/9 (100%) 5/5 (100%) NS AST (<48 U/L) 827 (516-1401) 329 (168-726) 0.0235 ALT (<55 U/L) 778 (448-1159) 380 (213-871) NS ALP (115 U/L) 426 (314-503) 188 (110-1081) NS TB (<1.0 mg/dL) 7 (2.7-21.0) 1.5 (0.8-7.5) NS Albumin (>3.5 g/dL) 2.9 (2.6-3.4) 3.4 (2.8-3.5) NS INR (<1.2) 1.2 (1.0-1.4) 1.1 (0.9-1.3) NS IgG (<1500 g/dL) 1835 (1275-2455) 1905 (1790-2580) NS Gamma globulins (<1.7 g/dL) 2.5 (1.9-2.6) 2.8 (2.3-3.8) NS Jaundice at presentation 8/11 (73%) 3/11 (27%) NS In two nitrofurantoin cases and one minocycline case, gamma globulin levels were not available, which made it possible to calculate the AIH score in 19 patients. Table 1. Comparison of the Demographics, Seropositivity, AIH Score, Histology, Treatment, and Liver Tests at Presentation in Patients with Autoimmune Hepatitis (AIH) and Those with Drug-Induced Liver Injury (DIAIH) AIH Patients (n 5 237) DIAIH (n 5 24) P Value Age 52 (37-62) 53 (24-61) NS Sex, females (%) 184 (78%) 20 (92%) NS ANA positive (%) 165/237 (70%) 20 (83%) NS SMA positive (%) 106/237 (45%) 12/24 (50%) NS Both ANA and SMA (%) 69/237 (29%) 9/24 (38%) NS Seronegative (%) 29/237 (12%) 1/24 (4%) NS Simplied AIH score: Probable or denite (%) 181/237 (76%) 19/21 (90.5%) NS Immunosuppressive therapy (%) 222/237 (94%) 21/24 (88%) NS Steroids and azathioprine (%) 191/222 (86%) 12/21 (57%) 0.0024 Steroids alone (%) 31/222 (14%) 9 (43%) 0.0024 Trial of discontinuation successful (%) 18/52 (35%) 14/14 (100%) <0.0001 AST (<48 U/L) 392 (154-1031) 679 (291-956) NS ALT (<55 U/L) 480 (185-1141) 728 (255-1141) NS ALP (115 U/L) 241 (138-350) 376 (229-514) 0.0166 TB (<1.0 mg/dL) 2.0 (1.0-8.0) 4.0 (1.0-12.0) NS Albumin (>3.5 g/dL) 3.4 (2.95-3.7) 3.1 (2.6-3.6) NS INR (<1.2) 1.1 (1.0-1.3) 1.1 (1.0-1.3) NS IgG (<1500 g/dL) 2020 (1618-2702) 1905 (1600-2455) NS Gamma globulins (<1.7 g/dL) 2.5 (2.0-3.2) 2.55 (2.2-3.1) NS Jaundice at presentation 110/237 (46%) 12/24 (50%) NS HEPATOLOGY, Vol. 51, No. 6, 2010 BJO
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nitrofurantoin-induced and minocycline-induced AIH patients showed similar grade and stage in these patients (Table 4). In general the necroinammatory activity was found to be higher in the nitrofurantoin- induced AIH than in the AIH induced by minocy- cline (Table 4). Imaging. Changes on radiological images were evi- dent in 8 of 11 (73%) of the nitrofurantoin-induced AIH cases, whereas this was not observed in any of the minocycline patients (P 0.0010). Furthermore, other AIH patients had abnormalities on imaging in only 24% (8/33) of cases versus 73% of the nitrofurantoin patients (P 0.0089). In most of the AIH patients with abnormalities on imaging, the liver showed mild atrophy (n 4), clear signs of cirrhosis (atrophy and signs of portal hypertension such as ascites) (n 2), or coarsening of the liver architecture compatible with chronic liver disease (n 2). In several nitrofur- antoin patients, the appearance of the liver was consid- ered cirrhotic on imaging but cirrhosis was not shown to be present histologically in any of the nitro- furantoin (or the minocycline) patients. Two patients had left lobe liver atrophy, two patients had right lobe liver atrophy, and two patients had diffuse general liver atrophy. In ve patients, computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging showed conuent area of abnormal- ity with distortion of surrounding liver parenchyma (Figs. 1-3). The conuent abnormal area showed retention of contrast on delayed-phase images, consist- ent with conuent brosis or massive brotic bands. In some cases when images were obtained at presenta- tion, the conuent area showed fairly intense enhance- ment during the portal phase of enhancement. This early enhancement is somewhat unusual for typical conuent brosis, but may have been due to active or subacute phase of the disease. The appearance of con- uent brosis or massive brotic bands (Figs. 1-3) was only seen in the nitrofurantoin patients and in none of the AIH patients. One of the patients with right liver atrophy also had a large mass in the right lobe and hypertrophy of the left liver lobe. Another patient had heterogeneous echotexture, with a subtle 3-cm mass in the right lobe that on the original imaging was similar to focal nodu- lar hyperplasia but was clinically considered secondary to the nitrofurantoin-induced liver damage, and the patient was in clinical and biochemical remission at follow-up. Individual Patients. The clinical characteristics of the individual patients with nitrofurantoin-induced and minocycline-induced AIH are shown in Tables 5 and 6. A total of 8 of 11 (73%) nitrofurantoin cases had jaundice at presentation (Table 5), whereas only 3 of 11 (27%) of the minocycline cases had jaundice at presentation (Table 6). All patients with nitrofuran- toin-induced AIH were treated with immunosuppres- sion (Table 5), whereas two minocycline patients were not treated (Table 6). In one case attributable to rap- idly improving jaundice, liver tests before therapy were instituted, and not in another case attributable to mild liver enzyme abnormalities (Table 6). All cases with all parameters available to make a score for the likelihood of AIH received at least a probable score; however, in three cases, information about gamma globulins was not available for the AIH score. Outcome. At the end of follow-up, among those who had at least 6 months follow-up at the Mayo Table 3. Comparison Between DILI/AIH and AIH Alone DIAIH AIH P Value Grade (Batts and Ludwig) 3 (2-3) 3 (2-3) NS Portal inammation 2 (2-3) 2 (2-3) NS Lymphoplasmacytic (absent/present) 19/23 (83%) 22/23 (96%) NS Interface hepatitis 2.5 (1.5-3.0) 2.0 (1.0-3.0) NS Lobular hepatitis 2.0 (1.0-3.0) 2.0 (1.0-3.0) NS Zone 3 necrosis 15/23 (65%) 12/22 (55%) NS Conuent necrosis 7/23 (30.4%) 2/22 (9%) NS Rosette formation 7/22 (31.8%) 5/22 (22.7%) NS Stage 0 (0-2) 1 (0-3) 0.06 Compatible 8/24 (33%) 8/24 (33%) NS Typical 16/24 (66%) 15/24 (63%) Atypical 0 1/24 (4%) Results are expressed as medians and interquartile range. Grade, portal inam- mation, interface, and lobular hepatitis as well as stage are scored as none, mild, moderate, and severe. Lymphoplasmacytic occurrence, zone 3 necrosis, conuent necrosis, and rosette formation are classied as present or absent. Table 4. Comparison Between Nitrofurantoin and Minocyclin-Induced AIH Nitrofurantoin Minocycline P Value Grade (Batts and Ludwig) 3 (3-3.8) 2 (2-3) 0.0082 Portal inammation 3 (2-3) 2 (2-3) 0.08 Lymphoplasmacytic (absent/present) 10/10 (100%) 9/11 (82%) NS Interface hepatitis 3.0 (3.0-3.0) 2.0 (1.0-2.8) 0.0053 Lobular hepatitis 3.0 (2.0-4.0) 1.0 (1.0-2.0) 0.0072 Zone 3 necrosis 9/10 (90%) 6/11 (55.5%) NS Conuent necrosis 6/10 (30.4%) 1/11 (9%) 0.024 Rosette formation 6/9 (66%) 1/11 (9%) 0.0166 Stage 0 (0-2) 0 (0-1.8) NS Compatible 6/11 (55%) 2/11 (18%) NS Typical 5/11 (45%) 9/11 (82%) Atypical 0 0 Results are expressed as medians and interquartile range. Grade, portal inammation, interface, and lobular hepatitis as well as stage are scored as none, mild, moderate, and severe. Lymphoplasmacytic occurrence, zone 3 ne- crosis, conuent necrosis, and rosette formation are classied as present or absent. 2044 BJO
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clinic, 22 of 23 (96%) of the DIAIH patients were in biochemical remission, as were 159 of 177 (90%) of the other AIH patients (NS). None of the DIAIH patients developed cirrhosis during follow-up, and all were alive at last follow-up, whereas 18 of 257 (7%) AIH patients had developed cirrhosis clinically (P NS). Overall, ve of these patients had decompensated liver cirrhosis with mild ascites in most, and 13 patients had nonbleeding esophageal varices. Among the seven patients who died during the study period, only two deaths were liver related. One patient died of fulminant hepatic failure on the liver transplantation list a few months after presentation, and one other patient died in chronic liver failure and with a dissemi- nated breast cancer. Others died of stroke, heart fail- ure, and colon cancer, and two had unknown causes of death. At the end of follow-up, one of the above- mentioned patients with cirrhosis had undergone liver transplantation, two were listed, and one was evaluated for transplantation. Discussion The results of the current study suggest that among consecutive patients with well-characterized AIH, drug-induced AIH makes up a signicant proportion, approximately 9%, of AIH cases. More than 90% of these DIAIH cases were associated with two drugs, nitrofurantoin and minocycline. Overall, the histologi- cal features of DIAIH seem to be identical to those of AIH. Severe imaging abnormalities with liver lobe and general liver atrophy were also commonly observed in nitrofurantoin but not in minocycline cases, indicating postnecrotic scarring. None of the patients with DIAIH developed cirrho- sis during follow-up, and these patients seem to have a generally favorable prognosis. All patients with DIAIH in whom discontinuation of immunosuppressive ther- apy was tried could withdraw drug therapy without a relapse, whereas only approximately one third of the Fig. 1. Conuent necrosis in both right and left liver lobe. Fig. 2. Conuent brosis in both right and left lobe in another patient but with another distribution. Fig. 3. Conuent brosis centrally with general liver atrophy. HEPATOLOGY, Vol. 51, No. 6, 2010 BJO
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other AIH patients did not experience a relapse after withdrawal of immunosuppression. Taken together, our results suggest that DIAIH is a distinct phenom- enon, and a trial of withdrawal of immunosuppression should be undertaken in these patients. Previous literature on DIAIH consist only of case reports and small case series. Our series of 24 well- characterized patients is by far the largest study on the clinical aspects of drug-induced AIH. No previous study has been able to assess the proportion of DIAIH out of AIH cases in general. We found that 9.2% of AIH patients were by denition induced by drugs. It is conceivable that this reects referral bias, but no sig- nicant difference was found between the proportion of referral patients among the DIAIH versus the other AIH patients. Nitrofurantoin can lead to a broad spectrum of liver injury with mild liver test abnormalities, acute liver failure with fatal outcome, or need for liver transplan- tation 9,12,19-21 and also liver cirrhosis. 21 Nitrofurantoin is still widely used in many countries and was recently found to be one of the most common single agents associated with drug-induced liver injury (DILI) in a recent prospective study in the United States. 21 Nitro- furantoin has been documented to induce AIH previ- ously in a number of reports. 8,9,12,13,22-24 All cases in the current series with laboratory parameters available to score the AIH by the new simplied criteria 17 had a score of at least probable. Zone 3 necrosis was observed in our DIAIH cohort and has been described in nitrofurantoin-induced liver injury 12 but has also been reported in AIH without drug involvement. 25,26 It seems that DIAIH caused by other drugs than nitro- furantoin and minocycline is a rare cause of AIH. Interestingly, one of the two other drugs suspected to have caused AIH, cephalexin, was also taken by one patient with minocycline-induced AIH in one series. 10 Cirrhosis was not found to develop in any of the DIAIH cases in the current study, whereas this was found in 20% of the other AIH patients at baseline. Table 5. Clinical Characteristic of the Individual Patients with Nitrofurantoin-Induced AIH Subject, Duration of Therapy (months) ANA SMA IgG Gamma-globulins Score AST ALT ALP TB Therapy Response to Therapy F55 (27) neg 1:40 282 336 327 2.7 Steroids Fair* F55 (36) neg 1:20 2069 1479 426 37.1 Steroids Good F53 (6) 1:320 1:160 2850 2.9 7 827 1059 1.8 Steroids Good F64 (7) neg 1:80 1.8 6 436 188 341 1.1 Steroids Good F55 (4) 5.6 neg 1440 2.2 6 918 1165 470 7.8 Steroids Good F75 (60) 5.3 1:20 2.5 7 1725 1141 1195 20.6 Steroids Good F52 (36) >12 1:1280 1750 1.8 7 814 778 499 4.5 Steroids Good F67 (36) 1.8 1:20 3.6 6 1538 1652 229 30.9 SterAza Good F67 (12) >12 neg 1.3 6 993 729 276 10.6 SterAza Good F66 (36) 1:80 1:80 - 1.8 6 300 450 0.9 SterAza Good F64 (24) 6.3 1:40 2230 2.6 7 757 448 514 3.5 SterAza Good F, female; M, male. *Information not available on discontinuation of immunosuppression. Discontinuation of immunosuppression successful. Discontinuation of immunosuppression not tried. Table 6. Clinical Characteristic of the Individual Patients with Minocycline Induced AIH Subject, Duration of Therapy (months) ANA SMA IgG Gamma-globulins Score AST ALT ALP TB Therapy Response to Therapy F24 (36) 1:40 neg 1820 2.4 6 449 728 595 0.8 SterAza Good* F39 (-) 2.9 neg 2.0 7 785 1035 1243 11.1 SterAza Good F60 (8) neg 1:160 1670 2.8 7 178 283 188 0.5 Steroids Good F25 (42) 1:320 1:160 1990 2.88 7 329 213 1963 1.5 SterAza Good F17 (-) 1:80 1:40 4.6 7 328 478 0.9 SterAza Good F55 (2) 1:80 1:40 1.2 6 769 871 151 13.3 None - F33 (4) >12 1:640 3170 3.5 7 1412 2079 122 3.5 SterAza Good F25 (-) 1.5 1:20 1760 6 267 389 0.9 SterAza Good* F17 (12) >12 neg 1620 1.7 7 600 0.7 SterAza Good* F18 (36) >12 neg 2.2 7 165 245 106 0.9 SterAza Good* M18 (12) 3.6 neg 78 127 0.5 None - F, female; M, male. *Discontinuation of immunosuppression not tried. Discontinuation of immunosuppression successful. 2046 BJO
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Our results are in agreement with Stricker et al., 9 who found no cases of nitrofurantoin-induced cirrhosis among 52 reported cases of suspected liver injury reported to the Netherlands Centre for Monitoring of Adverse Reactions to Drugs. Most of the patients with DIAIH in our study had been treated for a long pe- riod with the drug, with a median duration of 24 and 12 months in the nitrofurantoin-induced and minocy- cline-induced AIH, respectively. This long duration of treatment has been the experience in other series. 9,12 Interestingly, severe abnormalities were seen on imag- ing in 8 of 11 (73%) of the nitrofurantoin cases, whereas this was not found to occur in the other DIAIH cases. This has not been reported previously, but a recent case report revealed low attenuation patches in the liver parenchyma. 27 This unusual pat- tern of brosis was seen in the nitrofurantoin cases with conuent brosis and massive brotic bands not seen in other AIH patients. The appearance of this type of brotic process on imaging might raise a suspi- cion of nitrofurantoin-induced liver injury. However, it is not clear whether these changes are specic for nitrofurantoin-induced liver damage. Inadvertent rechallenge of nitrofurantoin has been reported to induce chronic liver injury 28 and severe liver injury 17 years after an initial hepatitis-like illness, 29 which underlines the importance of careful history in assess- ing chronic test abnormalities and changes seen on imaging. One of the most important ndings of the analysis of the DIAIH cases in our series is that corticosteroid therapy could be discontinued without relapse. The need for continuous immunosuppressive therapy has not been analyzed in previous series on DIAIH. 9,10,12,13,15,30 In all cases of the current studies when this was tried, no relapse was found to occur during a median follow-up of 36 months. This argues for induction of AIH by nitrofurantoin and minocy- cline and not simply unmasking otherwise sporadic cases of AIH. To our knowledge, relapse after discon- tinuation of immunosuppressive therapy has only been reported in a single case of minocycline-induced AIH previously. 31 Our results indicate that DIAIH patients have a generally favorable prognosis, although our fol- low-up was rather limited. None of the DIAIH patients had histological cirrhosis at presentation, and none developed cirrhosis clinically during follow-up, and all except one patient (who only had 6 months follow-up) were in biochemical remission and experi- enced lack of relapse after immunosuppression with- drawal. A recent study analyzing chronic liver injury after a previous episode of severe DILI revealed devel- opment of AIH in several patients associated with sev- eral different drugs. 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