| Autor: |
Liddle, Christopher, Crewe, Evelyn B, Cunningham, Anthony L, Batey, Robert G, Farrell, Geoffrey C, Swanson, Nigel R, Jeffrey, Gary P, Reed, William D |
| Zdroj: |
Medical Journal of Australia; September 1990, Vol. 153 Issue: 5 p265-271, 7p |
| Abstrakt: |
ABSTRACT It has recently been suggested that the hepatitis C virus may play a significant role in chronic liver diseases, such as autoimmune chronic active hepatitis, which are usually attributed to non‐viral causes. We tested for antibodies to hepatitis C virus (anti‐ HCV) in sera from 140 patients with well characterised “non‐viral” chronic liver diseases as well as sera from 51 patients thought to have chronic non‐A, non‐B (NANB) hepatitis (acting as positive controls) and 25 patients with non‐hepatic autoimmune disorders. As expected, 45 of 51 patients (88%) diagnosed as having chronic NANB hepatitis were anti‐HCV seropositive. Among 26 patients with cryptogenic cirrhosis, 8 were anti‐HCV seropositive; in 5 patients (22%) there was no apparent risk factor for parenteral transmission. In the remaining 114 patients with chronic liver disease, 10 patients (9%) were seropositive for anti‐HCV. However, 5 of these patients had a significant risk factor for parenteral transmission of hepatitis C virus, leaving only 5 of 106 (4.7%) with unexplained positive anti‐HCV test results. Among patients with high titres of circulating autoantibodies but no liver disease, no positive results occurred. It is concluded that hepatitis C virus infection may account for some cases of cryptogenic cirrhosis. Although anti‐HCV occurs more commonly in patients with other “non‐viral” chronic liver diseases than has been reported in the community (0.5%‐1.2%), the low prevalence of the antibodies indicates that hepatitis C virus infection is unlikely to be important in the aetiology or pathogenesis of autoimmune chronic active hepatitis and other poorly undersood chronic liver diseases. |
| Databáze: |
Supplemental Index |
| Externí odkaz: |
|
Plný text