Liver membrane antibodies in chronic delta hepatitis

The correlation between the presence of liver membrane antibodies (LMA) and delta superinfection in chronic hepatitis B was studied in 136 chronic hepatitis patients, 20 hepatitis B surface antigen asymptomatic carriers and 50 healthy controls, by testing for the presence of LMA, hepatitis B virus markers and anti-delta (anti-HD). Neither anti-HD nor LMA were detected in controls or in asymptomatic carriers. LMA positivity was statistically higher (p less than 0.001) in anti-HD-positive patients than in those with no anti-HD. Gamma globulin and glutamic pyruvic transaminase values were increased both in anti-HD- and LMA-positive patients with respect to those who were negative. In conclusion, a close association between the positivity to anti-HD and the presence of circulating LMA was found.