Autoantibody profiles in autoimmune hepatitis and chronic hepatitis C identifies similarities in patients with severe disease

• AIM: To determine how the auto-antibodies (Abs) profilesoverlap in chronic hepatitis C infection (CHC) andautoimmune hepatitis (AIH) and correlate to liverdisease.METHODS: Levels of antinuclear Ab, smooth muscle antibody (SMA)and liver/kidney microsomal-1 (LKM-1) Ab and markersof liver damage were determined in the sera of 50 patients with CHC infection, 20 AIH patients and 20healthy controls using enzyme linked immunosorbentassay and other immune assays. RESULTS: We found that AIH patients had more severe liverdisease as determined by elevation of total IgG,alkaline phosphatase, total serum bilirubin and serumtransaminases and significantly higher prevalence ofthe three non-organ-specific autoantibodies (auto-Abs)than CHC patients. Antinuclear Ab, SMA and LKM-1 Abwere also present in 36% of CHC patients and relatedto disease severity. CHC cases positive for auto-Abswere directly comparable to AIH in respect of mostmarkers of liver damage and total IgG. These caseshad longer disease duration compared with auto-Abnegative cases, but there was no difference in gender,age or viral load. KLM-1+ Ab CHC cases showed bestoverlap with AIH. CONCLUSION: Auto-Ab levels in CHC may be important markers ofdisease severity and positive cases have a diseasesimilar to AIH. Auto-Abs might have a pathogenic roleas indicated by elevated markers of liver damage.Future studies will unravel any novel associationsbetween these two diseases, whether genetic or other.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Medicinska och farmaceutiska grundvetenskaper -- Immunologi inom det medicinska området (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Basic Medicine -- Immunology in the medical area (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Autoantibody

Inflammatory diseases

Immune system

Hepatitis C virus

Smooth muscle antibody

Liver/kidney microsomal-1 autoantibody

Anti-nuclear antibody

Infectious Diseases

Infektionssjukdomar

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)