Study of anticardiolipin antibody in hepatitis C virus-positive patients

Several antibodies, including anticardiolipin antibodies (ACA), have been detected among chronically infected hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients. The present work aimed at ascertaining the clinical significance of ACA levels among HCV infection associated with two commonly encountered diseases, thromb...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases
Main Authors: H Elsayeh, N Abdallah, NA Hamed, MG Morsi, A Eldighidy, HA Kamal
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: SciELO 2011
Subjects:
hepatitis C virus
hemodialysis
anticardiolipin antibody
enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine
RC955-962
Toxicology. Poisons
RA1190-1270
Zoology
QL1-991
Arctic
Bain
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1590/S1678-91992011000400014
https://doaj.org/article/de9b404e682344dfb32b25d882d411c1
Description
Summary:Several antibodies, including anticardiolipin antibodies (ACA), have been detected among chronically infected hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients. The present work aimed at ascertaining the clinical significance of ACA levels among HCV infection associated with two commonly encountered diseases, thrombocytopenia and arteriovenous-shunt malfunction. Six groups were studied, 11 HCV-positive thrombocytopenic patients (group I), 14 HCV-positive non-thrombocytopenic patients (group II) and 15 healthy controls (group III), 11 anti-HCV-positive hemodialysis patients with non-functioning shunt (group IV), 14 anti-HCV-positive hemodialysis patients with patent shunt (group V) (Bain Medical Equipment Co., China) and 15 healthy controls (group VI). Anticardiolipin antibody (ACA) assay was performed on all patients and controls whereas tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) assay was carried out on thrombocytopenic patients and controls. Thrombocytopenic groups presented an inverse correlation between IgG ACA levels and both thrombocytopenia and TNF-α levels. During the follow-up period, no other clinical manifestations related to ACA were developed. Hemodialysis groups showed a significant elevation in IgG ACA levels in groups IV and V compared to the controls, with statistically higher levels in group IV than group V. Three group IV patients were hypercholesterolemic. We can conclude that induction of proinflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α by persistent HCV infection may promote the generation of ACA. Complications of HCV, including thrombocytopenia and thrombosis in arteriovenous shunt, are more strongly correlated with IgG ACA than with IgM ACA.

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