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Clinical importance of assessment of anti-HCV IgM antibodies in chronic hepatitis C.
- Source :
-
Acta virologica [Acta Virol] 1996 Apr; Vol. 40 (2), pp. 61-5. - Publication Year :
- 1996
-
Abstract
- In the majority of patients with acute hepatitis C the anti-HCV IgM antibodies in serum were present, however, some patients with chronic hepatitis C were positive for anti-HCV IgM too. The aim of this study was to assess the presence of anti-c22 IgM in patients with chronic hepatitis C and to determine whether the positivity for anti-c22 IgM has an impact on the histological finding in the liver. A total of 88 patients were examined (44 women, 44 men), mean age 48 years. The first group comprised 24 patients positive for both anti-HCV IgG and anti-c22 IgM, the second group 38 patients positive for anti-HCV IgG only, and the third group 26 patients negative for both anti-HCV IgG and anti-c22 IgM. Of 62 anti-HCV-IgG-positive subjects 24 (39%) were positive also for anti-c22 IgM. Of 24 patients who received a blood transfusion 9 (37.5%) were positive for anti-c22 IgM. The mean serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity was significantly higher in subjects with anti-c22 IgM than that in subjects without them (p = 0.006), however, the difference in aspartate aminotransferase (AST) was not significant (p = 0.09). Histological examination was performed in 46 patients. Two-thirds of the patients with anti-c22 IgM had either cirrhosis or chronic active hepatitis (CAH) while only one third of the anti-HCV-positive patients without anti-c22 IgM had CAH or cirrhosis. The results showed that approximately 40% of the patients with CAH and cirrhosis had anti-c22 IgM, a significantly higher serum ALT activity and more serious histological finding in the liver than anti-HCV-positive patients without anti-c22 IgM.
- Subjects :
- Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Child
Chronic Disease
Female
Hepatitis C blood
Hepatitis C Antibodies immunology
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Hepacivirus immunology
Hepatitis C immunology
Hepatitis C Antibodies blood
Hepatitis C Antigens immunology
Immunoglobulin G blood
Viral Core Proteins immunology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0001-723X
- Volume :
- 40
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Acta virologica
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 8886113