Prevalence of autoantibodies in patients with hepatitis C virus infection in Oman.
BACKGROUND
HCV genotype patterns and HLA types in the Omani population may be unique.


METHODS
Tests for 12 different autoantibodies were carried out on 50 HCV-infected patients and on 27 HCV-seronegative controls. An immunoassay for the detection of anti-HCV antibodies was performed on patient and control sera. HCV PCR was carried out on those sera which were positive for HCV antibodies.


RESULTS
All patients sera were positive for HCV antibodies and all control sera were negative. Sixty-six percent of patients were positive for at least one autoantibody. In contrast, only 33% of the controls showed positivity for one or more autoantibodies.


CONCLUSIONS
This study found a significant difference in the prevalence of autoantibodies between patients and controls, and between organ- and non-organ specific autoantibodies among the patients. A comparison with autoantibody patterns reported for HCV-infected patients in other parts of the world suggest that patterns in HCV-infected individuals in the Omani population are unique.
Alnaqdy
A
A
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine, Sultanate of Oman.
Alfahdi
A
A
Alkobaisi
M
M
Kaminski
G Z
GZ