title: Clinical importance of assessment of anti-HCV IgM antibodies in chronic hepatitis C.
abstract: In the majority of patients with acute hepatitis C the anti-HCV IgM antibodies in serum were present, however, some patients with chronic hepatitis C were positive for anti-HCV IgM too. The aim of this study was to assess the presence of anti-c22 IgM in patients with chronic hepatitis C and to determine whether the positivity for anti-c22 IgM has an impact on the histological finding in the liver. A total of 88 patients were examined (44 women, 44 men), mean age 48 years. The first group comprised 24 patients positive for both anti-HCV IgG and anti-c22 IgM, the second group 38 patients positive for anti-HCV IgG only, and the third group 26 patients negative for both anti-HCV IgG and anti-c22 IgM. Of 62 anti-HCV-IgG-positive subjects 24 (39%) were positive also for anti-c22 IgM. Of 24 patients who received a blood transfusion 9 (37.5%) were positive for anti-c22 IgM. The mean serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity was significantly higher in subjects with anti-c22 IgM than that in subjects without them (p = 0.006), however, the difference in aspartate aminotransferase (AST) was not significant (p = 0.09). Histological examination was performed in 46 patients. Two-thirds of the patients with anti-c22 IgM had either cirrhosis or chronic active hepatitis (CAH) while only one third of the anti-HCV-positive patients without anti-c22 IgM had CAH or cirrhosis. The results showed that approximately 40% of the patients with CAH and cirrhosis had anti-c22 IgM, a significantly higher serum ALT activity and more serious histological finding in the liver than anti-HCV-positive patients without anti-c22 IgM.
authors.affiliation: First Internal Clinic of Third Medical Faculty of Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stránský
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Honzáková
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vandasová
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Horejsová
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kyncl
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Nĕmecek
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Horák
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000276:immunology*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D018936:Hepatitis C Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014758:Viral Core Proteins / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies; D018936:Hepatitis C Antigens; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D014758:Viral Core Proteins; C499352:core protein p22, Hepatitis C virus; C069130:nucleocapsid protein, Hepatitis C virus