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Hepatitis B Antigen and Auto‐antibodies in Chronic Liver Diseases in Hong Kong
Author(s) -
Lee Anthony K. Y.
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.596
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1445-5994
pISSN - 0004-8291
DOI - 10.1111/j.1445-5994.1975.tb04575.x
Subject(s) - hepatocellular carcinoma , medicine , cirrhosis , autoantibody , antibody , chronic liver disease , hepatitis , hepatitis b , anti nuclear antibody , liver disease , antigen , hepatitis b virus , immunology , virus , gastroenterology
Summary: The frequency of occurrence of hepatitis B antigen (HBAg) and certain tissue auto‐antibodies [antinuclear antibody (ANA), smooth muscle antibody (SMA) and mitochondrial antibody (MIA)] were studied with the microtiter complement fixation and immunofluorescence techniques respectively in a group of patients suffering from chronic liver diseases. These were chronic hepatitis (30), cirrhosis of the liver (66) and hepatocellular carcinoma, mostly with underlying cirrhosis (100). A group of closely matched hospital in‐patients served as controls. HBAg was found in high frequency in the patients with liver disease (60% in chronic hepatitis, 36·4% in cirrhosis and 49% in hepatocellular carcinoma) whereas tissue auto‐antibodies were found in lower frequencies (16·7%, 10·6% and 13% in the three groups respectively). However, in both the frequency was significantly higher than that in the controls (9·2% for HBAg and 0·8% for auto‐antibodies). There was a negative correlation between HBAg and tissue auto‐antibodies in the group of patients with liver disease when taken as a whole (· 2 = 14·3, P < 0·001). These results suggest a possible aetiological role played by hepatitis virus B in hepatocellular carcinoma through chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis in Hong Kong while the mutual exclusion between HBAg and auto‐antibodies supports the hypothesis of heterogeneity in the aetiology of chronic liver diseases. The patients with auto‐antibodies may belong to the auto‐immune category but no definite conclusion can be reached until the role played by hepatitis virus A in chronic liver diseases is clarified when more reliable techniques for its identification are available.