Hepatic schistosomiasis and chronic active hepatitis

ABSTRACT

As part of an investigation of the possible role of autoimmune mechanisms in the development of chronic active hepatitis [CAH] in schistosomiasis, sera from 25 patients [group I] with hepatic schistosomiasis without histological features of CAH and 5 patients [group II] with CAH and intestinal mansoniasis, but without discernible hepatic infection, were examined for the presence of the liver membrane antibody [LMA] that is reportedly associated with the autoimmune variant of CAH. All patients were HBsAg-negative. Circulating LMA was found in 17 [68%] [group I] and 3 [60%] [group II] patients. Low titer of various organ-non-specific autoantibodies were found in about a third of all patients, but these did not correlate with the presence of LMA. There was also no correlation between LMA and antibodies to the hepatitis B core antigen [anti-HBc], found in the sera of 67% of the patients, indicating that occult or recent past hepatitis B virus infection was not a factor in LMA production. Long-term follow-up of the group I patients should reveal whether current LMA-positivity is related to eventual development of CAH in hepatic schistosomiasis