title: Autoantibody profiles in autoimmune hepatitis and chronic hepatitis C identifies similarities in patients with severe disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine how the auto-antibodies (Abs) profiles overlap in chronic hepatitis C infection (CHC) and autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) and correlate to liver disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  Levels of antinuclear Ab, smooth muscle antibody (SMA) and liver/kidney microsomal-1 (LKM-1) Ab and markers of liver damage were determined in the sera of 50 patients with CHC infection, 20 AIH patients and 20 healthy controls using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay and other immune assays.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that AIH patients had more severe liver disease as determined by elevation of total IgG, alkaline phosphatase, total serum bilirubin and serum transaminases and significantly higher prevalence of the three non-organ-specific autoantibodies (auto-Abs) than CHC patients. Antinuclear Ab, SMA and LKM-1 Ab were also present in 36% of CHC patients and related to disease severity. CHC cases positive for auto-Abs were directly comparable to AIH in respect of most markers of liver damage and total IgG. These cases had longer disease duration compared with auto-Ab negative cases, but there was no difference in gender, age or viral load. KLM-1+Ab CHC cases showed best overlap with AIH.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Auto-Ab levels in CHC may be important markers of disease severity and positive cases have a disease similar to AIH. Auto-Abs might have a pathogenic role as indicated by elevated markers of liver damage. Future studies will unravel any novel associations between these two diseases, whether genetic or other.
authors.affiliation: Kawa Amin, Department of Medical Science, Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, Clinical Chemistry and Asthma Research Centre, Uppsala University and University Hospital, SE-751 85 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Kawa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Amin
authors.affiliation: Kawa Amin, Department of Medical Science, Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, Clinical Chemistry and Asthma Research Centre, Uppsala University and University Hospital, SE-751 85 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Aram H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Rasool
authors.affiliation: Kawa Amin, Department of Medical Science, Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, Clinical Chemistry and Asthma Research Centre, Uppsala University and University Hospital, SE-751 85 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hattem
authors.affiliation: Kawa Amin, Department of Medical Science, Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, Clinical Chemistry and Asthma Research Centre, Uppsala University and University Hospital, SE-751 85 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Taha Am
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Al-Karboly
authors.affiliation: Kawa Amin, Department of Medical Science, Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, Clinical Chemistry and Asthma Research Centre, Uppsala University and University Hospital, SE-751 85 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Taher E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Taher
authors.affiliation: Kawa Amin, Department of Medical Science, Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, Clinical Chemistry and Asthma Research Centre, Uppsala University and University Hospital, SE-751 85 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Jonas
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bystrom
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D018450:Disease Progression; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology*; D019693:Hepatitis, Autoimmune / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009130:Muscle, Smooth / Q000378:metabolism; D012737:Sex Factors; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; C060729:anti-liver kidney microsome antibody
keywords: Anti-nuclear antibody; Autoantibody; Hepatitis C virus; Immune system; Inflammatory diseases; Liver/kidney microsomal-1 autoantibody; Smooth muscle antibody