Smooth muscle antibodies and cryoglobulinemia are associated with advanced liver fibrosis in Brazilian hepatitis C virus carriers

Cryoglobulinemia and non-organ-specific-autoantibody are biomarkers of autoimmunity of the chronic infection caused by hepatitis C virus (HCV). In this work, we report the association between the presence of smooth muscle antibodies (SMA) and cryoglobulinemia and chronic liver disease in HCV carriers. Sixty-five untreated HCV patients, 38 women and 27 men were included in this study. Cryoglobulinemia was tested by cryoprecipitation, SMA by indirect fluorescent antibody test, and liver fibrosis and hepatocellular inflammation activity was investigated by histology of liver biopsy using the METAVIR score. The prevalence of SMA in the patients was 33.8 percent and cryoglobulinemia was demonstrated in 36.9 percent patients. Cryoglobulinemia and SMA seropositivity was associated with advanced fibrosis (p < 0.05). The presence of SMA and cryoglobulinemia was not associated with hepatocellular inflammation activity, age, carrier gender or HCV genotype. We concluded that liver biopsy should be recommended for HCV carriers that are seropositive for SMA or cryoglobulinemia.

Immunological disorders in chronic hepatitis C Egyptian patients

This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of different autoimmune antibodies in cases of hepatitis C chronic liver disease and to assess whether such changes have any clinical significance or not. A total of thirty chronic hepatitis C patients [22 males and 8 females, with a mean age of 43.5 +/- 6.7 years] who were ELISA II positive and HbsAg negative with elevated ALT more than two folds of the normal in addition to 20 healthy controls of matched age and sex were tested for rheumatoid factor, cryoglobulin, antinuclear antibody, antismooth muscle antibody, antimitochondrial antibody and LKM1. It could be concluded that chronic hepatitis C patients showed prevalence of some autoimmune antibodies without any implication on the clinical presentation

Crioglobulinemia: estudo imunoquímico de três pacientes / Cryoglobulinemia: immunochemical study of three patients

As crioglobulinas säo proteínas que se precipitam ao a frio e podem ser encontradas em várias doenças humanas. Sua detecçäo e estudo imunoquímico podem ser úteis para o diagnóstico e compreensäo de muitos estados patológicos. Säo descritos três diferentes casos de crioglobulenemia, cada um representativo dos tipos clássicos de Brouet. Um paciente apresentava crioglobulinemia do tipo I e linfoma plasmocitóide; näo tinha sintomas de criobulinemia propriamente ditos, a despeito dos altos níveis de crioglobulinas circulantes (IgG 3 K monoclonal). O paciente com crioglobulinemia do tipo II, crioglobulinemia essencial mista (IgM lambida monoclonal e IgG policlonais) era portador de leishmaniose mucocutânea. Näo foram encontradas hiperviscosidade sérica ou cristalocrioglobulinas em nenhum do casos. A temperatura de crioprecipitaçäo situou-se sempre abaixo de 20 graus e a concentraçäo das hipocrioglobulinas foi diferentes das respctivas crioglobulinas em dois pacientes, näo havendo relatos na literatura sobre este tipo de achado

Complexos imunes circulantes e crioglobulinas / Circulating immune complexes and cryoglobulins

Em virtude de nuances existentes entre crioglobulinas (CRIO) e complexos imunes circulantes (ICC), avaliam-se as inter-relaçöes entre ambos em 160 pacientes; três com crioglobulinemia essencial, 84 com lúpus eritematoso sistêmico (LFS), 32 com vasculite, 11 com síndrome de Sjögren, 13 com doença reumatóide e 17 com nefropatias. Verificou-se que 10% dos portadores de crioglobulinemia essencial obviamente, apresentam crioglobulinas no soro e 90% têm ICC; 22% dos pacientes com LES mostran CRIO enquanto 50% têm ICC; 12,5% dos pacientes com vasculite revelam CRIO e 28% têm ICC; na síndrome de Sjögren, 27% têm crioglobulinas e 70% ICC; na doença reumatóide a CRIO aparece em 27% dos pacientes enquanto os ICC em 70% e nos indivíduos com acometimento renal primário, 25% mostram CRIO e 60% revelam ICC. Embora a freqüência de crioglobulinas seja menor que a de ICC, na maioria das doenças avaliadas (exceto na crioglobulinemia essencial), näo ocorreu associaçäo significante entre CRIO e ICC, exceto no LES (X = 10,11; gl:1; alfa = 0,05. As inter-relaçöes entre CRIO e ICC podem ser devidas à existência de fraçäo crioprecipitável nos ICC, ou pelo comportamento físico-químico das crioglobulinas