Gail Cawkwell, MD, PhD, Senior Vice President, Medical Affairs at Intercept, discusses current research in primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), a rare liver disease that is caused by an autoimmune reaction. When bile is not able to move through the bile ducts, it collects in the liver and causes damage.
PBC is progressive, which means that the damage gets worse over time. Starting with inflammation, the damage can cause fibrosis, and then cirrhosis. In some cases, cirrhosis can lead to liver failure. Many people do not experience any symptoms at the beginning of their PBC. The only sign that they have PBC is that abnormalities appear in their liver function test results. Physicians can test for PBC by taking blood samples and measuring certain chemicals related to liver function. The tests will show if there are elevated levels of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and if antimitochondrial antibodies (AMAs) are present, which can be indicators of PBC.