[Autoimmune reactions of the humoral type in viral hepatitis]

Antibodies against antigens of hepatocyte cell membranes are formed in half the patients with hepatitis A and B in one-third of those with pseudotuberculosis. They occur in the period preceding the patients' convalescence rather than in the acute stage of the disease. The recovery of hepatitis patients in whom liver antibodies formed ensued significantly more rapidly than in persons with no autoantibodies. Antibodies against antigens of hepatocyte cell membranes were detectable in different clinical disease patterns. They did not influence the disease progress and witnessed hepatocyte injuries not only in the icteric but also in scarlatiniform and and abdominal disease patterns.