Autoantibodies against the basal cell layer: an association with chronic hepatitis B.

The presence of antibodies against the basal cells of squamous epithelium (BCL-Ab) was studied by indirect immunofluorescence in Rumanian and Swedish carriers of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), in patients with acute viral hepatitis (AVH), chronic liver diseases (CLD), and various other diseases, and in apparently healthy subjects. Titers of BCL-Ab greater than or equal to 40 were found in 8% of 320 HBsAg carriers, in 20% of 292 patients with CLD associated with HBsAg, and in 2% of 816 patients with HBsAg-negative CLD. BCL-Ab were not found in 167 patients with AVH, nor in 1389 patients with various nonhepatic conditions, nor in 344 apparently healthy subjects. These data indicate an association of BCL-Ab with CLD predominantly of hepatitis B etiology. Possibly hepatitis B virus may induce a form of liver metaplasia with the expression of an antigen with a specificity in common with the regenerative layer of basal cells in the squamous epithelium.