RESEARCH - Prevalence of hepatitis C serum antibody in autoimmune diseases

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J Autoimmun. 2009 Apr 6.

Prevalence of hepatitis C serum antibody in autoimmune diseases.

Agmon-Levin N, Ram M, Barzilai O, Porat-Katz BS, Parikman R, Selmi C,

Gershwin M, Anaya JM, Youinou P, Bizzaro N, Tincani A, Tzioufas

AG, Cervera R, Stojanovich L, J, -Gay MA, Valentini G,

Blank M, Sanmarco M, Rozman B, Bombardieri S, De Vita S, Shoenfeld Y.

Center for Autoimmune Diseases, Chaim Sheba Medical Center,

Tel-Hashomer 52621, Israel; Department of Medicine 'B', Chaim Sheba

Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer 52621, Israel.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prevalence of serum antibodies against

hepatitis C virus and other infectious agents in a large cohort of

well-characterized patients with autoimmune diseases (AID).

METHODS: We utilized 1322 sera from patients with 18 different AID and

236 sera from healthy controls from the same countries and with

similar age and sex distribution. All sera were tested for the

presence of serum anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies as well as

antibodies directed at other infectious agents and autoantibodies.

RESULTS: Anti-HCV antibody was detected in 115/1322 (8.7%) of patients

with AID and 0.4% of matched healthy controls (P<0.0001). The

prevalence of anti-HCV antibody was significantly higher in 7/18

different AID (i.e. cryoglobulinemia, mixed cryoglobulinemia pemphigus

vulgaris, vasculitis, secondary anti-phospholipid syndrome,

Hashimoto's thyroiditis, and inflammatory bowel disease) compared to

controls. Patients with AID and serum anti-HCV positivity had an

increased prevalence of antibodies against hepatitis B virus,

Toxoplasma gondii and Cytomegalovirus as opposed to a lower frequency

of serum autoantibodies.

CONCLUSIONS: The enhanced prevalence of anti-HCV serum antibodies in

AID may suggest a role for HCV in tolerance to breakdown, similarly to

its established role in mixed cryoglobulinemia. This immune mediated

effect does not rule out the role of other infectious agents.

PMID: 19356903

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19356903

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