title: Prevalence of non-organ specific autoantibodies in HCV-infected subjects in the general population.
abstract: The significance of non-organ specific antibodies (NOSAs) in HCV-related chronic hepatitis is largely unclear. In this study we evaluated the prevalence of NOSAs in a non-selected population of HCV-infected subjects. One hundred and seventy anti-HCV positive and 192 anti-HCV negative sex and age-matched subjects (median age 64 years, range 7-91 years, female 68%) enrolled from the general population of a small Italian town were evaluated for NOSAs by indirect immunofluorescence on rat tissue sections and HEp-2 cells, and by counterimmunoelectrophoresis with thymus and spleen extracts as the antigen source. One hundred and sixty-three (96%) HCV-infected subjects had normal ALT serum levels and no evidence of liver disease. NOSAs were found in 31 out of 170 (18%) anti-HCV positive subjects and in 20 out of 192 (10%) controls (P = NS), with similar median titre (1:40) and range (1:40 to 1:160). Neither liver/kidney microsomal antibody type 1 nor antiactin reactivity were detected. No significant association between NOSAs and HCV genotypes was observed. In the general population, HCV-infected subjects and healthy controls have a similar prevalence of NOSAs. Without continuous liver damage HCV infection is unlikely to induce the appearance of NOSAs.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Medicina Interna, Cardioangiologia, Epatologia, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy. paolomuratori@tin.it
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Muratori
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Muratori
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Stroffolini
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pappas
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Terlizzi
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ferrari
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Loffreda
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cassani
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rapicetta
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Guadagnino
authors.forename: F B
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: Bianchi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lenzi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies