Smooth muscle antibodies and cryoglobulinemia are associated with advanced liver fibrosis in Brazilian hepatitis C virus carriers

• Main Authors: Luis Jesuino de Oliveira Andrade, PhD, Paulo Roberto Santana de Melo, PhD, Ajax Mercês Atta, Maria Luiza Brito de Sousa Atta, PhD, Larissa Santana de Jesus, Post-Graduate, Gabriel Menezes de Sousa, Post-Graduate, Carolina Alves Costa Silva, Medicine Student, Raymundo Paraná, PhD
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2011-01-01
• Series: Brazilian Journal of Infectious Diseases
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1413867011701428

Cryoglobulinemia and non-organ-specific-autoantibody are biomarkers of autoimmunity of the chronic infection caused by hepatitis C virus (HCV). In this work, we report the association between the presence of smooth muscle antibodies (SMA) and cryoglobulinemia and chronic liver disease in HCV carriers. Sixty-five untreated HCV patients, 38 women and 27 men were included in this study. Cryoglobulinemia was tested by cryoprecipitation, SMA by indirect fluorescent antibody test, and liver fibrosis and hepatocellular inflammation activity was investigated by histology of liver biopsy using the METAVIR score. The prevalence of SMA in the patients was 33.8% and cryoglobulinemia was demonstrated in 36.9% patients. Cryoglobulinemia and SMA seropositivity was associated with advanced fibrosis (p < 0.05). The presence of SMA and cryoglobulinemia was not associated with hepatocellular inflammation activity, age, carrier gender or HCV genotype. We concluded that liver biopsy should be recommended for HCV carriers that are seropositive for SMA or cryoglobulinemia. Keywords: hepatitis C, muscle, smooth, antibody specificity, cryoglobulins, liver diseases