Objective: To investigate the autoantibody profile and its clinical implication in the patients with primary biliary cirrhosis.
Methods: During the period of 2008 to 2010,123 patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) in our hospital were enrolled in this study, of whom, 70 patients were with cirrhosis and 53 without cirrhosis, The autoantibody profile was tested for each patient by using immunoblotting and indirect immunofluorescence.
Results: Of the 123 PBC patients with liver cirrhosis, 49% were positive with serum ANA positive; 47%, 51%, 54%, 31% and 49% were positive with serum anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA), anti-mitochondrial antibodies-M2 (AMA-M2), anti-promyelocytic leukemia (anti-PML), anti-sp100 antibodies (anti-sp100), anti-Ro-52 antibody (anti-52KD), respectively. By contrast, of the PBC patients without liver cirrhosis, only 38%, 37%, 51%, 60%, 30% and 51% were positive with serum ANA, AMA, AMA-M2, anti-PML, anti-sp100 and anti-52KD, respectively.There was the statistical difference between the two groups. In addition, it was also found that the anti-gp210 antibody positive group had a higher Mayo risk score,lower serum albumin and severe cholestasis and impaired liver function when compared with anti-gp210 antibody negative patients.
Conclusion: Our data indicate that serum AMA is helpful for early diagnosis of PBC, and in particular, serum ANA positivity can help make a diagnosis for the AMA-negative patients. These indicate that anti-gp210 antibodies appear in the late course of PBC.Anti-gp210 positive PBC patients have more severe cholestasis and liver dysfunction.