High prevalence of serological markers of autoimmunity in patients with chronic hepatitis C

✍ Scribed by Bernard D. Clifford; Daniel Donahue; Lynda Smith; Edward Cable; Brigit Luttig; Michael Manns; Herbert L. Bonkovsky

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 851 KB
• Volume: 21
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0270-9139
• DOI: 10.1002/hep.1840210302

✦ Synopsis

The advent of specific antiviral therapy for chronic hepatitis C has increased the importance of establishing the correct etiology of chronic hepatitis in patients, especially because interferon alfa (IFN-a) has been reported to exacerbate autoimmune hepatitis (AIH), whereas corticosteroids increase viral replication in chronic hepatitis C. In our medical center, we have treated many patients with apparent chronic hepatitis C and serological or clinical evidence of autoimmunity. Our aim was to estimate the prevalence of this association and to learn whether demographic or clinical features distinguished between patients with or without autoimmune markers. We performed a retrospective review of the records of 244 unselected patients seen at the Clinics and Hospital of the University of Massachusetts between May 1991 and November 1993, who had elevated serum aminotransferases. One hundred seventeen patients had chronic hepatitis C defined by elevations of serum alanine transaminase (ALT) for at least 6 months, positive serum antibodies to hepatitis C virus (HCV, second-generation enzyme immunoassay [ E M ] or recombinant immunoblot assay [RIBA]), and absence of hepatitis B surface antigen in the serum. Records were reviewed for results of autoimmune markers in sera, including anti-nuclear antibodies (AN&), anti-smooth muscle antibodies (SMAs), rheumatoid factor (RF), anti-mitochondria1 antibodies (AMAs), anti-liver and kidney