1. Diagnostic value of anti-F-actin antibodies in a French multicenter study
- Author
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P Chretien-Leprince, A Escande, Joëlle Goetz, C Andre, Alain Chevailler, Eric Ballot, N O Olsson, S Jego, S Dubuquoi, Catherine Johanet, F Oksman, Marielle Sanmarco, René-Louis Humbel, Nicole Fabien, Khrestchatisky, Michel, Neurobiologie des interactions cellulaires et neurophysiopathologie - NICN (NICN), and Université de la Méditerranée - Aix-Marseille 2-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Pathology ,Adolescent ,Autoimmune hepatitis ,Disease ,Gastroenterology ,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology ,Age Distribution ,History and Philosophy of Science ,Internal medicine ,Cell Line, Tumor ,medicine ,Animals ,Humans ,Multicenter Studies as Topic ,[SDV.NEU] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC] ,Child ,Connective Tissue Diseases ,Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect ,Aged ,Retrospective Studies ,Hepatitis ,Aged, 80 and over ,Chi-Square Distribution ,biology ,business.industry ,General Neuroscience ,Antibody titer ,IIf ,Muscle, Smooth ,Middle Aged ,medicine.disease ,SMA ,Hepatitis C ,Actins ,Rats ,Hepatitis, Autoimmune ,Antibodies, Antinuclear ,Child, Preschool ,biology.protein ,Female ,[SDV.NEU]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC] ,France ,Antibody ,business ,Viral hepatitis ,Colchicine - Abstract
According to international criteria, autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) type 1 is characterized by the presence of antinuclear or anti-smooth muscle antibodies (SMA) with F-actin specificity. SMA have been found in 85% of AIH patients, but are not specific to this disease, and anti-F-actin specificity is not always verified when SMA are detected. The objective of this study was to determine the diagnostic value of anti-F-actin antibodies in a large population. A multicenter study involving 12 clinical centers was performed. Patients were selected on the basis of the presence of F-actin SMA detected by indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) on rat liver-kidney-stomach sections and was confirmed by IIF on Hep2 cells treated with colchicine, or F-actin dot-blot. The clinical status of patients was determined from their medical records. One hundred sixty-eight patients were included: 76% women, 24% men; mean age of 45 years (range, 2-88 years), with a bimodal age distribution. Sixty percent had AIH type 1, and 40% had another disease. In the group of women younger than 25 years, 90% had AIH type 1. Other pathologies associated with antiactin were other liver diseases (19%), including viral hepatitis C (7%), and non-liver diseases (21%), including connective tissue diseases (12%). Antibody titers were higher in AIH than in other diseases. Antiactin antibodies are of major diagnostic value in AIH, especially in young women; they may be found in other disease settings, but mostly at low levels.
- Published
- 2005