Autoantibody to aldolase in acute and chronic hepatitis

Sera from 82 patients with acute or chronic hepatitis and 40 chronic carriers of hepatitis B were examined by ELISA and immunoblotting for reactivity with the glycolytic enzyme aldolase. The results of the ELISA tests, expressed as a percentage of a positive control, were compared to those obtained with sera from 39 patients with rubella, 11 with cytomegalovirus infection and 74 healthy subjects. The ELISA reaction with sera, expressed as mean +/- standard deviation was, for 15 patients with hepatitis A, 58.3 +/- 20.5%; 15 with hepatitis B, 59.5 +/- 42.18; 23 with hepatitis non-A, non-B 51.1 +/- 34.4%; 11 with HBsAg positive chronic active hepatitis, 70.1 +/- 31.5%; and 17 with autoimmune chronic active hepatitis, 66.8 +/- 21.4%. All values were significantly (p less than 0.05-p - less than 0.001) higher than those obtained with sera from carriers of hepatitis B surface antigen, 25.6 +/- 27.2%; rubella, 21.1 +/- 20.0%; cytomegalovirus infection, 19.2 +/- 27.8%; or healthy subjects, 20.9 +/- 16.2%. In two randomly selected sera, reactivity with aldolase by ELISA was neutralized by absorption with the enzyme. Selected sera showing reactivity by ELISA reacted by immunoblotting with aldolase. The findings suggest that acute or chronic liver damage may provoke the production of autoantibodies to aldolase.