New Autoimmune Hepatitis Findings from University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) Discussed (Optimizing Thiopurine Therapy In Autoimmune Hepatitis: a Multi-center Study On Monitoring Metabolite Profiles and Co-therapy With Allopurinol).

A recent study conducted at the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) in Germany explored the optimization of thiopurine therapy in autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). The researchers investigated whether patients could be stratified based on their response to thiopurine metabolites and examined the effects of azathioprine dosage increases and co-therapy with allopurinol on metabolite profiles and treatment response. The study found that maintaining complete biochemical remission (CBR) in AIH was associated with specific levels of thiopurine metabolites. For patients who did not achieve CBR despite dose increases, the addition of allopurinol alongside low-dose thiopurines was found to be an effective alternative. [Extracted from the article]