[Significance of autoantibodies in the diagnosis of non-A, non-B hepatitis].

Various autoantibodies against different components of the hepatocytes have been demonstrated in chronic active hepatitis (CAH) which is an etiologically heterogeneous disease. These antibodies are essentially antinuclear antibodies (ANA), antibodies against liver cell membranes (LMA), antibodies against a microsomal antigen from liver and kidney (LKM), antibodies against soluble liver antigen (SLA) and antimitochondrial antibodies (AMA). These various autoantibodies mentioned could not be demonstrated in 18 patients with clearly established acute and 27 patients with clearly established acute and 27 patients with clearly established chronic hepatitis non-A-non-B. In addition these autoantibodies could not be found in our own cases of clearly established hepatitis non-A-non-B after the acute stage of the disease. Testing for the presence of these antibodies thus helps essentially to differentiate the autoimmunologically caused form of CAH from the CAH non-A-non-B.