Bitter correlationship between autoimmune hepatitis and smoking

Abstract

Cigarette smoke contains numerous toxic, carcinogenic and mutagenic chemicals, stable and unstable free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) which cause biological oxidative damage. Continuous exposure to those chemicals leads to immense amount of damage to the human health either directly or indirectly. A hypothesis is advanced here that a possible explanation for developing autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is due to regular smoking for long years of time. To examine this hypothesis, I relied on an experience of a case of a patient, as well as critical reading of the literature on smoking and different autoimmune disorders. Among the autoimmune diseases, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), multiple sclerosis (MS), thyroid disease, primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) are reported mostly among tobacco-exposed animals. The observational and theoretical knowledge strengthen the hypothesis that smoking can be one of the causes of generating autoimmune hepatitis. This hypothesis could lead to a new diagnostic category, as well as therapeutic approaches for changing the regular smoking behavior.