Immunological disorders in C virus chronic active hepatitis: A prospective case-control study

Abstract

Hepatitis C virus-related chronic hepatitis may be associated with various immunological disorders. The aim of this study was to determine prospectively the prevalence of the clinical, biochemical and pathological immunological abnormalities in a series of 61 consecutive patients with chronic hepatitis C, compared with those in 61 age- and sex-matched control subjects without markers of hepatitis C virus and hepatitis B virus infections and with those in 61 patients with chronic hepatitis B. The following investigations were systematically performed before any treatment: detection of serum cryoglobulinemia and rheumatoid factor, detection of a large variety of serum anti-tissue antibodies, biopsy of labial salivary glands, ophthalmological examination, dosage of thyroid-stimulating hormone and in vivo capillary microscopy. Cryoglobulinemia was found in 36% of the hepatitis C virus patients, four of whom had dermatological and/or neurological manifestations of vasculitis, and rheumatoid factor was present in 70%. Serum anti-tissue antibodies were detected in 41% of cases, mostly antinuclear and anti-smooth muscle antibodies. Liver-kidney microsomal and antithyroid antibodies were rare. Salivary gland lesions were found in 49% of the patients: all had lymphocytic capillaritis, sometimes associated with lymphocytic sialadenitis resembling that of Sjögren's syndrome, but without features of sicca syndrome and Ro/SSA antibodies. Five percent of the patients had lichen planus. The prevalences of cryoglobulinemia, rheumatoid factor and anti-tissue antibodies were significantly higher than those in the control group and patients with chronic hepatitis B.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Thyroid Disturbance in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C Infection: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

“…Among the 12 studies, hypothyroidism was reported in 11 [7,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24], while hyperthyroidism in 5 studies [16,20,21,23,24]. TGAb was covered in 8 studies [7,15,17,18,[20][21][22][23], TPOAb in 6 studies [16,17,[20][21][22][23] and ATMA in 5 studies [6,7,15,19,22].…”

“…TGAb was covered in 8 studies [7,15,17,18,[20][21][22][23], TPOAb in 6 studies [16,17,[20][21][22][23] and ATMA in 5 studies [6,7,15,19,22].…”

“…However, some studies suggested that the prevalence of thyroid disease was also increased in CHC patients after exclusion of J Gastrointestin Liver Dis, June 2016 Vol. 25 No 2: 227-234 those being treated with IFN-α compared with normal subjects [6,7]. Besides, anti-thyroid antibodies had been found in sera of HCV infected subjects before IFN-α therapy [8,9].…”

Hepatitis C virus and autoimmunity

“…Dominant T-cell suppression of B cells producing autoantibodies 24 Autoimmun Highlights (2010) 1: [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35] seems to be attenuated. An autoreactive T-cell response may be responsible for endocrine disorders in chronic HCV infection [17].…”

“…According to Sene et al [31] cryoglobulinaemic vasculitis is associated with advanced age, longer duration [32]. MC syndrome is characterized by a typical clinical triad: purpura, weakness, arthralgia [33]; the most frequent target organs are skin, joints, nerves and kidneys.…”