[The significance of anti-soluble liver antigen/liver-pancreas in diagnosing and typing autoimmune hepatitis].
OBJECTIVE
To study the significance of anti-soluble liver antigen/liver-pancreas (anti-SLA/LP) in diagnosing and typing autoimmune hepatitis (AIH).


METHODS
Six thousand patients with abnormal liver functions, who had their autoantibodies checked by immunofluorescent assay (IFA) and immune blotting assay, were reviewed retrospectively.


RESULTS
Of these 6000 patients with liver diseases, 84 were diagnosed AIH. Eighteen patients, 0.3% of the 6000, patients with abnormal liver functions, were SLA/LP antibody positive, of which 17 were with AIH-III [2/17 with AIH /primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) overlap syndrome], and 1 with chronic hepatitis B. Sensitivity and specificity of SLA/LP antibody in diagnosing AIH were 20.2% and 99.7% respectively, and the positive prediction value was 94.44%. The antinuclear antibody (ANA) titer in the AIH-III group was significantly lower than that of the AIH-I group (P < 0.05). The age of patients with anti-SLA/LP was higher (58.8% were over 50 years old) than those without this antibody (52.2% were 30 to 50 years old). There were no significant differences between the type III and type I AIH regarding gender, age, abnormal degree of liver function, PTA, IgG, liver cirrhosis rates and response to immunosuppressive therapy.


CONCLUSIONS
Anti-SLA/LP is highly specific for diagnosing AIH. Comparing the clinical data of type III and type I AIH, we did not find significant differences between the two groups.
Zhao
Yan
Y
Central Laboratory, Beijing You'an Hospital, Capital University of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100069, China.
Yan
Hui-ping
HP
Tan
Yu-fen
YF
Feng
Xia
X
Liu
Yan
Y
Cui
Dan
D
Ma
Dong-mei
DM
Li
Wei-hua
WH
Zhang
Hai-ping
HP
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000276:immunology*; D001324:Autoantigens / Q000276:immunology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D019693:Hepatitis, Autoimmune / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000276:immunology; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D055815:Young Adult
D001323:Autoantibodies; D001324:Autoantigens; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; C046431:liver antigen LA-1