[Investigation of autoimmunity markers during interferon alpha therapy of chronic hepatitis B and C - twenty years of experience].

Objective: To determine the prevalence of autoimmune parameters in patients with chronic hepatitis B and C (HBV, HCV) treated with conventional or pegylated interferon alpha (IFN) and monitor the development of autoimmune diseases in connection with this treatment.

Patients and methods: In the years 1992-2014, autoimmune parameters were evaluated in 324 patients (271 with HCV, 53 with HBV) treated with IFN at the Department of Infectious Diseases in Ostrava. Prior to, during and after completion of IFN treatment, antinuclear antibodies (ANA), antimitochondrial antibodies (AMA), smooth muscle antibodies (SMA), anti-liver/kidney microsomal antibodies (anti-LKM-1), anti-double-stranded DNA antibodies (anti-ds-DNA), antibodies against granulocytes (ANCA), anti-deoxyribonucleoprotein antibodies (anti-DNP), anti-nucleosomes antibodies, rheumatoid factor (RF) and circulating immune complexes (CIC) were determined and clinical manifestations of autoimmune diseases were evaluated.

Results: At least one abnormal parameter was present in 267 of 324 patients: ANA in 140, AMA in 13, SMA in 100, RF in 118, ANCA in 11, anti-ds-DNA in 2 and anti-LKM-1 in 1 patient. Increases in CIC were observed in 150 of 227 patients, anti-DNP positivity in 39 of 239 and anti-nucleosomes were positive in none of 43 patients. At least one abnormal parameter was detected in 85 % of patients with HCV and in 89 % of patients with hepatitis B, in 81 % of patients under 40 years of age and in 84 % of older indivi-duals, 90 % of patients with cirrhosis and 80 % without cirrhosis, in 74 % of patients with treatment shorter than 30 weeks and in 87 % of patients with treatment lasting over 50 weeks. Autoimmune diseases - autoimmune hepatitis, autoimmune myositis, myopathy and diabetes - developed in 4 patients while only 3 individuals had ANA, SMA or anti-DNP positivity.

Conclusions: Positivity of ANA and SMA or increased RF and CIC are often found in patients with HBV and HCV treated with IFN, but their presence does not correlate with the development of autoimmune diseases.