Drygiannakis D, Lionis C, Drygiannakis I, Pappas G, Kouroumalis E
General Hospital of Rethymnon, Trantallidou 17, Crete, Greece.
BMC Gastroenterol. 2001;1:4. doi: 10.1186/1471-230x-1-4. Epub 2001 Jun 11.
Hepatitis C is a serious problem on the Greek island of Crete, where a high prevalence of antibodies against hepatitis C (anti-HCV) has recently been reported. This article reports the findings of a study carried out in Crete, which investigated the prevalence of serum autoantibodies in patients with chronic hepatitis C.
One hundred and forty two patients (59 men and 83 women), who were found anti-HCV seropositive in two hospitals and two Primary Health Care Centres in Crete, were eligible. Sixty healthy blood donors (46 men, 14 women), which were negative to anti-HCV, were used as the control group. They were randomly selected from those attending Rethymnon Hospital. Autoantibodies were identified using the indirect immunofluorescence (IFL) technique on human epithelial cells from larynx cancer (HEp-2 cells), rat liver-kidney-stomach substrate (CT3) and Chrithidia Luciliae (CL).
Serum autoantibodies were detected in 104 HCV patients, yielding an overall prevalence of 73.2%. The most frequent autoantibodies were antinuclear antibodies (ANA), positive in 72 patients (50.7%). Anti-smooth muscle antibodies (ASMA) were detected in 33 patients (23.2%). Only one patient was positive for LKM1 autoantibodies. No autoantibodies were found in 38 patients (26.7%). Autoantibodies were also found in 5 out of the 60 examined healthy blood donors (8.3%).
Autoantibodies, mainly ANA and ASMA are very common in HCV seropositive patients from Crete. By contrast LKM1 autoantibodies are exceptionally rare in these patients.
丙型肝炎在希腊克里特岛是一个严重问题，最近有报道称该岛丙型肝炎抗体（抗-HCV）的患病率很高。本文报告了在克里特岛进行的一项研究结果，该研究调查了慢性丙型肝炎患者血清自身抗体的患病率。
142例患者（59名男性和83名女性）符合条件，他们在克里特岛的两家医院和两个初级卫生保健中心被检测出抗-HCV血清学阳性。60名健康献血者（46名男性，14名女性），抗-HCV检测为阴性，用作对照组。他们是从雷西姆农医院的就诊者中随机挑选的。使用间接免疫荧光（IFL）技术，在喉癌人上皮细胞（HEp-2细胞）、大鼠肝肾胃基质（CT3）和克氏锥虫（CL）上鉴定自身抗体。
104例丙型肝炎患者检测到血清自身抗体，总体患病率为73.2%。最常见的自身抗体是抗核抗体（ANA），72例患者呈阳性（50.7%）。33例患者检测到抗平滑肌抗体（ASMA）（23.2%）。只有1例患者LKM1自身抗体呈阳性。38例患者（26.7%）未发现自身抗体。60名接受检查的健康献血者中有5人（8.3%）也发现了自身抗体。
自身抗体，主要是ANA和ASMA，在来自克里特岛的抗-HCV血清阳性患者中非常常见。相比之下，LKM1自身抗体在这些患者中极为罕见。
