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Published on: June 23, 2014
Anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibodies in primary biliary cirrhosis
Wahiba Sakly1, Moncef Jeddi, Ibtissem Ghedira
1Research Unit of Auto-immunity and Allergy (03UR/07-02), Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Monastir, Monastir, Tunisia.
Aim:
The aim of this study was to evaluate, retrospectively, the frequency of anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibodies (ASCA) in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC).
Methods:
ASCA, IgG, and IgA, were determined by ELISA in sera of 95 PBC patients; 80 healthy blood donors served as controls.
Results:
The frequency of ASCA (IgG or IgA) was significantly higher in PBC patients than in the control group (24.2% vs 3.7%, P = 0.0001). The frequency of ASCA IgG and ASCA IgA in PBC patients was also significantly higher than that found in the control group (18.9% vs 2.5%, P = 0.0006 and 11.6% vs 1.2%, P = 0.007, respectively). Six patients out of 95 (6.3%) had both ASCA IgG and ASCA IgA; in contrast, none of the control group had both isotypes (P = 0.02). There was no correlation between ASCA levels and mitochondrial autoantibodies (AMA) titres in PBC patients.
Conclusion:
We conclude that ASCA are common in patients with PBC.
