Concomitant systemic lupus erythematosus might have a negative impact on the biochemical responses to treatment in patients with primary biliary cholangitis.

The results of this retrospective, single-center study suggested that the concomitant SLE status might have a negative impact on the biochemical responses to the treatment, while the effect of concomitant SLE on PBC progression remains to be further defined.Key Points• The prevalence of SLE in the PBC population being in a large PBC cohort was as low as 3.4%.• Compared with PBC-SLE group, the group with PBC alone showed lower alanine aminotransferase and glutamyltransferase values and aspartate aminotransferase/platelet ratio indices at the final visit, indicating that the concomitant SLE may have a negative impact on the biochemical responses to the treatment of PBC.