Specificities and clinical significance of anti-cytoskeleton antibodies in anti-smooth muscle antibody-positive patients with chronic liver disease C.
We investigated the specificities and characteristics of anti-cytoskeleton antibodies in 13 anti-smooth muscle antibody (ASMA)-positive patients with chronic liver disease C (CLD-C), and compared them with those in 7 ASMA-positive patients with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH), and 6 ASMA-positive patients with chronic liver disease B (CLD-B). Anti-microfilaments (anti-MF) were found not only in 6/7 AIH patients (85.7%), but also in 8/13 CLD-C patients (61.5%) with a relatively high incidence, when compared with 1/6 CLD-B patients (16.7%), while, there was no significant difference in the incidence of anti-intermediate filaments (anti-IMF), especially anti-IMF IgM, among these patient groups. Among the patients with CLD-C, the mean levels of serum gammaglobulin and IgG in the anti-MF-positive patients were 2.46 +/- 1.03 g/dl and 3277 +/- 1089 mg/dl, respectively, which were higher than those in the anti-MF-negative patients (1.60 +/- 0.53 g/dl, 2245 +/- 610 mg/dl) and those in the patients with CLD-B (1.60 +/- 0.57 g/dl, 2192 +/- 339 mg/dl). Furthermore, 4 of the 8 anti-MF-positive patients with CLD-C satisfied the serological criteria for the diagnosis of AIH. These findings suggest that autoimmune mechanisms might be involved in the pathogenesis of anti-MF-positive CLD-C, and that anti-MF might be used as a marker.
Takaki
A
A
First Department of Internal Medicine, Okayama University Medical School, Japan.
Sakaguchi
K
K
Ogawa
S
S
Kawamoto
H
H
Tsuji
T
T
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000888:Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic / Q000097:blood*; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007381:Intermediate Filament Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008840:Microfilament Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D008868:Microtubule Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009130:Muscle, Smooth / Q000276:immunology*
D000888:Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic; D007381:Intermediate Filament Proteins; D008840:Microfilament Proteins; D008868:Microtubule Proteins