Clinical characteristics of patients with hepatitis C virus-related chronic liver disease seropositive for anticentromere antibody.
The association between anticentromere antibody (ACA) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection remains unclear. We subjected eight patients with HCV-related chronic liver disease (CLD) seropositive for ACA to a battery of clinical and laboratory tests. The patient cohort was dominated by females, and four of the eight (50%) patients had a concomitant autoimmune disease. All of the patients had high titers of ACA (>or=1:320). The histological activity index scores in chronic hepatitis C (CH-C) patients with ACA were significantly higher than those in CH-C patients without antinuclear antibody (ANA) (12.8 +/- 1.8 vs. 8.3 +/- 4.5, P = 0.0372). The frequency of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) DR-8 in patients with HCV-related CLD seropositive for ACA was significantly higher than that in patients with CH-C seronegative for ANA (71 vs. 18%, P = 0.0108). These findings suggest that ACA is induced by chronic HCV infection in association with HLA DR-8, and that CH-C patients with ACA exhibit more severe hepatic fibrosis and inflammation than CH-C patients without ANA.
Himoto
Takashi
T
Department of Gastroenterology and Neurology, Kagawa University School of Medicine, Kagawa, Japan. thimoto@med.kagawa-u.ac.jp
Nakai
Seiji
S
Kinekawa
Fumihiko
F
Yoneyama
Hirohito
H
Deguchi
Akihiro
A
Kurokochi
Kazutaka
K
Masaki
Tsutomu
T
Senda
Shoichi
S
Haba
Reiji
R
Watanabe
Seishiro
S
Nishioka
Mikio
M
Kuriyama
Shigeki
S
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000974:Antibodies, Antinuclear / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology*; D002503:Centromere / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006680:HLA Antigens / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010641:Phenotype
D000974:Antibodies, Antinuclear; D006680:HLA Antigens; C538950:anticentromere antibody