[Use of serum s-IgA detection in liver pathology (author's transl)]

Secretory IgA (sIgA) were searched in 60 sera of healthy blood donors and in 1 590 sera of subjects having various diseases. 20 percent of these subjects showed an increased amount of sIgA in their sera. The only subjects presenting a constant increase (sometimes more than 20 fold the normal amount) were people with liver diseases. Quantitation of sIgA, in relation with the determination of the IgA/transferrin ratio (IgA/T) in sera, showed an important difference between Laennec's cirrhosis on one hand and virus hepatitis or post-hepatitic cirrhosis on the other. In Laennec's cirrhosis a moderate increase in sIgA went with a strong elevation of the IgA/T ratio, the latter being proportional to the degree of evolution of the disease. In virus hepatitis, the sIgA amount was largely increased while the IgA/T ratio remained at a normal value.