Species cross-reactivity of anti-LSP antibodies in acute viral hepatitis.
Previous reports have suggested that circulating antibodies reacting with species cross-reactive determinants in the liver-specific membrane lipoprotein (LSP) complex are rare in acute viral hepatitis (AVH) and that their high frequency in chronic active hepatitis (CAH) indicates a fundamental change in antigen specificity of anti-LSP autoantibodies associated with progression to chronic liver disease. In the present study, sera from 20 patients with uncomplicated AVH (10 with virus A and 10 with virus B infection) were examined by radioimmunoassay for antibodies reacting with human, rabbit and rat LSP. All 20 patients were found to be seropositive for antibodies against all 3 LSP preparations. Titres of anti-human and anti-rat LSP were significantly higher (p less than 0.001) than those of anti-rabbit LSP but a strong linear correlation (p less than 0.005) was found between titres of antibodies against the 3 LSP preparations. Cross-inhibition experiments with sera from 10 patients (5 with AVH-A and 5 with AVH-B) failed to reveal any major differences in antigen specificity between anti-rabbit and anti-rat LSP in 8 but results with the remaining 2 patients suggested that their anti-LSP antibodies were not reacting with the same antigens in the 2 LSP preparations. The results indicate that antibodies reacting with species cross-reactive LSP determinants are a normal occurrence in AVH and suggest that, if anti-LSP antibodies are involved in progression to (and/or development of) CAH, this is more likely to be related to a defect in the control of autoreactivity than to inherent differences in target antigen specificities of these autoantibodies in acute and chronic liver diseases, although the latter possibility cannot be totally excluded.
A
A
Perperas
B M
BM
McFarlane
C G
CG
McSorley
I G
IG
McFarlane
R
R
Williams
D000818:Animals; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000276:immunology*; D003429:Cross Reactions; D000939:Epitopes / Q000032:analysis; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000276:immunology*; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D011506:Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000276:immunology*; D011817:Rabbits / Q000276:immunology; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D051381:Rats / Q000276:immunology; D013045:Species Specificity
D001323:Autoantibodies; D000939:Epitopes; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D011506:Proteins