Mycophenolate mofetil as a rescue therapy for autoimmune hepatitis patients who are not responsive to standard therapy

Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a chronic liver disease of unknown etiology that is responsive to steroid and azathioprine treatment in more than 80% of patients after 3 years of treatment. There are few alternative treatment options for individuals with AIH who are unresponsive to steroids and azathioprine, and research on this is limited to open-label studies of a variety of immunosuppressive agents that involve only small numbers of patients. Mycophenolate mofetil is one of the most frequently used alternative agents for the treatment of AIH patients not responsive to standard therapy. In this article, we review and summarize currently available data regarding the use of mycophenolate mofetil as an alternative treatment option for patients with AIH.