[Clinical significance of antibodies against calmodulin in patients with various liver diseases].

The sera from patients with various liver diseases were investigated for the antibody against calmodulin (CaM) extracted from bovine brain by the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. The specificity and purity of CaM were confirmed by the Western blot technique using anti-CaM antibody (anti-CaM) positive sera. IgA class antibody was frequently detected in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) and chronic active hepatitis (CAH). On the other hand, IgG class antibody was very often present in patients liver cirrhosis, AIH and acute viral hepatitis (AVH). Sixty seven percent of patients with AVH in the acute phase were positive for IgM class anti-CaM and 33% of patients with AVH in the convalescent phase positive respectively. In AVH, the titer of anti-CaM reached its peak on 26.3 days after the onset. The titer of anti-CaM in fulminant hepatitis was higher than that in AVH. Seventy percent of type A hepatitis patients were positive for IgM class anti-CaM, 33% of type B and 33% of type non-A non-B. These results suggest that the frequency and titer of anti-CaM may depend upon the type of hepatitis and the degree of liver cell injury.