Montaño Loza Aldo J, Angulo Paul
Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Mayo Clinic, College of Medicine, 200 First Street S.W., Rochester, Minnesota 55905, USA.
Rev Gastroenterol Mex. 2007 Jan-Mar;72(1):62-8.
Autoantibodies are a nonpathogenic manifestation of immune reactivity that may occur in acute and chronic liver diseases. Autoantibodies are the consequence rather than the cause of liver injury, and they can be used as diagnostic tools rather than etiologic markers. Conventional autoantibodies used in the categorization of liver disease are antinuclear antibodies, smooth muscle antibodies, antibodies to liver/kidney microsome type 1, antimitochondrial antibodies, and perinuclear antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies. However, the final diagnosis and the treatment strategies do not depend solely on the serological markers. Autoantibodies titles vary overtime and their behavior does not correlate with disease activity. Over-interpretation is the major pitfall in the clinical application of the serological results. Recognition and characterization of new autoantibodies is expected to improve the diagnostic precision, provide diagnostic parameters, and elucidate target autoantigens for the management of liver diseases.
