Abstract: Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy of western medicine and Chinese traditional medicine in the treatment of patients with type I autoimmune hepatitis（AIH）. Methods 13 patients with type I AIH were treated with thymosin-α,licorice diammonium and herbal medicine （compound） for 3 months. During the treatment,clinical symptoms and signs,liver function indexes such as alanine aminotransferase （ALT）, aspartate aminotransferase（AST）,γ-glutamyltranspeptidase（GGT）,total bilirubin （TBIL）,alkaline phosphatase （ALP）,albumin （Alb） as well as globulin（Glo）,hepatic fibrosis indexes such as hyaluronic acid （HA）,laminin （LN）,type Ⅲ procollagen （PC-Ⅲ） as well as type Ⅳ collagen （Ⅳ-C）,immunoglobulin （Ig） G,IgA and IgM, and peripheral blood T cell subsets,e.g. CD4⁺,CD8⁺ and ratio of CD4⁺/CD8⁺ were observed,and the adverse reactions were recorded. Results At the end of three month treatment,serum ALT,AST,GGT,TBIL,ALP,Alb and Glo levels were （67.5±12.8） U/L,（48.2±13.6） U/L,（57.2±24.5） U/L,（23.6±5.5） μmol/L,（152.9±35.4） U/L,（32.8±4.4） g/L and（30.6±3.7） g/L,respectively,significantly lower than those before treatment [（185.3±51.4） U/L, （198.3±55.2） U/L,（149.3±33.4） U/L,（98.5±26.4） μmol/L,（266.4±40.8） U/L,（37.7±6.1） g/L and （38.4±5.0） g/L, respectively,P<0.05 for all];serum HA,LN,PC-Ⅲ and Ⅳ-C levels declined [（179.7±43.6） μg/L vs. （311.8±72.4） μg/L,（121.7±35.6） μg/L vs. （334.2±42.6） μg/L,（118.5±35.4） μg/L vs. （253.7±56.4） μg/L and （143.1±25.8） μg/L vs.（254.7±42.5） μg/L,respectively,P<0.05 for all];Blood IgG levels was significantly decreased compared to that before treatment[（14.52±3.15） g/L vs.（19.38±3.86） g/L,P<0.05],but blood IgA and IgM levels remained unchanged;Peripheral CD4⁺,CD8⁺ and ratio of CD4⁺/CD8⁺ improved [（0.42±0.04） vs. （0.32±0.03）,（0.30±0.04） vs. （0.27±0.02） and （1.41±0.25） vs. （1.20±0.21）,respectively,P<0.05 for all];No serious adverse reactions was noticed during the treatment. Conclusion Combination of western medicine and Chinese herbal medicine exhibites satisfactory efficacy in the treatment of patients with type I AIH, which warrants further investigation.

Key words: Autoimmune hepatitis, Combination of western medicine and herbal medicine, Clinical efficacy