title: [The diagnostic significance of anti-HCV IgM in chronic hepatitis C viral infection].
abstract: The significance of anti-HCV IgM testing in the diagnosis and evaluation of treatment of chronic hepatitis C was studied. The serum samples from 82 patients with chronic hepatitis C were tested for ALT, anti-HCV IgG and IgM and HCV RNA. All the 82 cases were positive for anti-HCV IgG and 51 (62.19%) positive for anti-HCV IgM. The emergence of anti-HCV IgM might be of four types: (1) persistent positive type, 24 (29.26%) cases; (2) intermittent positive type, 8 (9.75%) cases; (3) transient positive type, 19 (23.17%) cases; (4) persistent negative type, 31 (37.80%) cases. Usually there was progressive liver damage in type 1 and 2. If the patients were of transient positive type, they would usually recover. There was a significant correlation between the levels of serum anti-HCV IgM and ALT, while no correlation existed between the levels of serum ALT anti-HCV IgG. It is suggested that in patients with chronic hepatitis C, detection of anti-HCV IgM may be useful for estimating the extent of progressive liver damage and guiding the antiviral therapy.
authors.affiliation: Beijing You An Hospital.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000276:immunology*; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies; D006801:Humans; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies; D007075:Immunoglobulin M; D012367:RNA, Viral; D000410:Alanine Transaminase