How can thinning hair be linked to an issue with my liver?

I'm 42 and my hair has become really thin over the last year. I went to my GP, who arranged blood tests, and these showed I have some antibodies in my blood that could damage my liver, though all the other tests were normal. I’m shocked by this, as other than my hair issue, I'm really well, and I wasn’t aware this test was being even being done. My appointment at the liver clinic isn’t for three months, and I'm really worried. I have a healthy lifestyle, but should I stop drinking alcohol?

- DR ROSEMARY LEONARD

Our immune system produces antibodies which are important in fighting infections but, unfortunately, it can also produce antibodies that attack healthy tissues - “auto-antibodies”.

There are lots of different types and an auto-antibody screen, which checks for several of these, is often done for unexplained symptoms such as hair loss.

I suspect your test has shown you have anti-mitochondrial antibodies, which can attack the tiny ducts that carry bile from the cells in the liver to the intestine. Eventually, over many years, this can lead to a condition known as primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) but the antibodies are often detected before significant liver damage has occurred.

Around half of all people with PBC have no symptoms when the condition is suspected by a blood test done for other reasons.

PBC affects about one in 5,000 people in the UK, 90% of them women, aged between 30 and 65. Why it occurs isn’t known but it is more likely to occur in those who have a relative with it, and in those with other autoimmune conditions though in many it appears for no reason at all.

Research is being done into new treatments for PBC but there is no cure. However, there are medicines that may slow down the progression of the disease in some people.