[Serum levels of IgE in liver cirrhosis]

In a study of 18 subjects with liver cirrhosis, mainly of alcoholic origin, the Authors found an average increase in the serum levels of IgE, IgG, IgA, and IgM, with respect to control subjects (p less than 0.001). Nonetheless, no correlation was found in either of the cirrhotic or control groups, between serum levels of IgE and other immunoglobulins. Also, in 11 of the 18 patients with cirrhosis, a linear and direct correlation between the amount of decreased phagocytic activity in the liver (studied by hepatic scanning, using Technetium Tc 99m sulfur colloid), and the increase in serum levels of IgG (p less than 0.001) and of IgA (p less than 0.05), but not of IgE, was observed. In respect to the controls, patients with cirrhosis also showed a significant decrease in circulating T-lymphocytes OKT8+ (p less than 0.05), and a significant increase in the OKT4+/OKT8+ ratio (p less than 0.01), but no significant modification of the eosinophils and circulating T-lymphocytes OKT3+ and OKT4+. A significant correlation was present in the patients with cirrhosis, but not in the controls, between the serum levels of IgE and circulating eosinophils (p less than 0.05), and between the levels of IgM and the OKT4+/OKT8+ ratio (p less than 0.05). In the healthy control subjects, a linear, inverse correlation was present between serum IgE and circulating OKT8+ (p less than 0.05) and a direct, linear correlation was found between IgE and the OKT4+/OKT8+ ratio (p less than 0.05); both, on the other hand, were absent in the patients with cirrhosis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)